Noblegarden extended to a week on the PTR
by Mike Schramm 
Mar 5th 2009 at 6:00PM
Elizabeth's wishes have been answered -- in-game Easter holiday Noblegarden has been extended to a full week according to the calendar on the PTR. That's six more days to run around getting eggs, not to mention doing all of the new Noblegarden achievements being included in the holiday. In the past, Noblegarden hasn't meant that much to players -- the rewards were never that great, and the fact that it was on only one day (a day usually reserved by most celebrating for family dinners away from the game) made it much less active than it could have been. But Blizzard has revamped the holiday, apparently, so be on the lookout for some eggs and bunnies starting on Sunday, April 12th.One quick note for those of you worried about your Violet Proto-drakes: apparently still none of the Nobelgarden quests are included in the meta achievement. So there won't be any Bags of Candy or monthly Brews to get -- just enjoy the festivities.
And we'll give a shout-out to Kisirani here as well -- since she took over World Events on the Blizzard team, we've seen some great changes. Despite the issues with the Zombie launch event for Wrath, it was still a ton of fun, and we're pretty sure that she and her team also been behind the popular Brewfest and Hallow's End holidays as well. Excellent work -- we can't wait to see what the new Noblegarden is like.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Events, Odds and ends, Blizzard, Wrath of the Lich King, Achievements
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
ZuWhowho Mar 5th 2009 6:06PM
I sure hope I can be the First one to sink my teeth in to some delisious, ingame holiday event chocolate egg!
Tumleren Mar 5th 2009 6:08PM
Wait a minute...
That was just a cleverly disguised "First!" post!
DAMN YOU ZUWHOWHO
DAMN YOU
Deadly. Off. Topic. Mar 6th 2009 9:55AM
And he might have gotten away with it too if it wasn't for those darn kids!
Ashvoyager Mar 5th 2009 6:08PM
There's too many damn holidays in the World of Warcraft.
Darkharmony Mar 5th 2009 6:55PM
A lot of people like the holidays. Just because all you enjoy is probably raiding or pvp doesn't mean that they should stop making the holidays. And in reply to your post further down. They are not a time waster. If you don't like the holidays then don't participate and let those who enjoy it actually enjoy it.
Ashvoyager Mar 5th 2009 7:07PM
You're missing the point and you're inferring that you know me, which you don't; so don't try to pigeonhole me into one of your stereotypes.
Anyway, contrary to what you stated, it's not that holidays are not enjoyable; quite the opposite is true, the real problem is that they are too numerous. Holidays are not special and enjoyable when they are constantly being churned out and intersecting each other (such as the new year and Valentine's day holidays). There are simply too many holidays that are in close proximity to each other as far as the year goes. It makes the holidays feel overwhelming and stressful.
Furthermore, as for my other comment goes, I am implying that the title achievements require far too much time investment to get and often demonstrate that someone who obtains them spends too much time playing. For example, the Love Fool title required constant play time in hopes to get each and every one of those little pieces of useless crap (and confusing for that matter) which were dispensed based upon the mercy of the random number generator. The likelihood that someone got this title was dependent upon either vast amounts of time invested or insanely on target luck.
Ashvoyager Mar 5th 2009 7:38PM
You're missing the point and you're inferring that you know me, which you don't; so don't try to pigeonhole me into one of your stereotypes.
Anyway, contrary to what you stated, it's not that holidays are not enjoyable; quite the opposite is true, the real problem is that they are too numerous. Holidays are not special and enjoyable when they are constantly being churned out and intersecting each other (such as the new year and Valentine's day holidays). There are simply too many holidays that are in close proximity to each other as far as the year goes. It makes the holidays feel overwhelming and stressful.
Furthermore, as for my other comment goes, I am implying that the title achievements require far too much time investment to get and often demonstrate that someone who obtains them spends too much time playing. For example, the Love Fool title required constant play time in hopes to get each and every one of those little pieces of useless and confusing items which were dispensed based upon the mercy of the random number generator. The likelihood that someone got this title was dependent upon either vast amounts of time invested or insanely on target luck.
Hoggersbud Mar 5th 2009 8:26PM
Sadly, you really didn't make much of a point in your original post.
Draelan Mar 5th 2009 8:37PM
There are more holidays in real life than there are in WoW.
With that said, most of the holidays WoW borrows inspiration from are single day holidays, but, out of necessity, WoW extends them to multiple days. (Often a week or more) This can make them seem crowded on the calender, but it's not as bad as you seem to imply. The longer duration can result in the exact opposite of what you say: Instead of spending too much time playing to complete everything in a very limited time frame, you can spread things out over the duration. Yes, there are some poorly designed aspects, such as the "collect every mask" achievement for Hollow's Eve and the horrendous candy bag drops during Love is in the Air, but those instances are few and far between.
I, personally, find the holidays quite enjoyable and look forward to the new and improved Noblegarden. If they really are that stressful for you, maybe you should take this holiday off. After all, it doesn't count towards the proto-drake. That, of course, is entirely up to you.
Justin Mar 5th 2009 10:18PM
I think more holidays the better. You dont have to participate so whats with the whining? its there for people who want to do stuff in it. nobody ever said you had to enjoy the holidays, so just stay away from them if you dont like them.
qoa Mar 5th 2009 11:35PM
I'm going to match the op's opinion. WoW is starting to feel like one giant holiday simulator. Nothing and I mean NOTHING kills the mood of the for me more than going to place of war, and seeing valentines day hearts all over which replaced the Lunar festival or whatever stupid order it was.
I CAN'T WAIT TO GET MY KISAMA THE PASTEL TITLE GUYS. Do you think we'll get an egg mount?
sephirah Mar 6th 2009 5:37AM
There are too few holidays IRL.
Squishy Mar 6th 2009 10:56AM
@Ashvoyager
You're an asshat. Go watch Ferris Bueller and pay close attention to what Charlie Sheen says to Jennifer Grey in the police station.
If you don't like the holidays, or think there are too much, then IGNORE them. You don't HAVE to do them. You don't HAVE to do achievements. You don't HAVE to get titles. The rest of us LIKE them.
Once again, you don't HAVE to do them. They only affect you IF YOU LET THEM DO SO. You can still raid/quest/pvp in complete oblivion of the fact it might be a holiday or festival on the server.
Stop QQing.
Drahliana Mar 10th 2009 11:18AM
Actually in the midieval world where WOW draws PART of it's inspiration from, holidays were far more common then they are today, the bulk of them being Church occasions. While it may seem otherwise the average hard working peasant of the Middle Ages had more off time than the average First Worlder today.
Ashvoyager Mar 6th 2009 1:59PM
@Squishy
You're a rude obnoxious jerk.
I'm sorry, but I like to play World of Warcraft, not the World of Holidays. The various holiday type things are HARD TO IGNORE because they're plastered on every facet of the game and invade all aspects of in game communication for their duration.
Guess what! If the developers are always FORCED to SPEND HOURS upon hours programming, receiving feedback and amending these DAMNED holidays then they have less time to work on more pressing issues like correcting other functional bugs or even possibly working on new druid forms.
Maybe I DON'T like HAVING to hear the constant fussing over the countless holidays and the various achievements associated with them and how someone WILL NEVER be able to get all of the achievements for the stupid mount that they HOLD IN FRONT of the collective faces of the idiotic people WHO MUST obtain it. If I wanted this kind of game, I'd play HELLO KITTY Island which perhaps is more to your liking.
tulipblossom Mar 5th 2009 6:08PM
I'm really excited about this event. This will be my first Noble Garden holiday and I can't wait to check out the awesome festivities and work on my achievements. And, it's sort've nice that it's not included in the achievements working towards the violet proto-drake. There's just a little less pressure with this one.
I can't wait. :D
Balius Mar 5th 2009 6:12PM
I've been playing since Vanilla WoW, and this is my first Noblegarden event as well. One day only on a holiday meant that I was having nothing to do with it.
Moonduh Mar 5th 2009 6:11PM
Oh....Noblegarden....great.
Because without this it wouldn't have done what it always does every year, pass by almost completely unnoticed/cared about.
But srsly now, I do hope the achievements added some life into (what has been to this point) a completely worthless holiday. Heck, even now, since the achievements don't count towards the Meta and the Proto-Drake, it will still be considered worthless by a good chunk of the gaming populous. But maybe now we'll all actually notice it's going on this year.
Andrew Mar 6th 2009 11:02AM
The opposite is true! Since it ' s not part of the zomg-must-do achievement, those who simply like achievements or doing fun silly things like holidays can do it without being pressured by the stampeding hordes of humorless hardcore people named 'Twilight Vanquisher Nedruid' or 'Healslol the Immortal'.
The one downside to all these so far is the one achievement put in there to ensure that only 80s, or at least, wrath-enabled accounts, can complete that season's meta.
seanfury Mar 5th 2009 6:12PM
There should be a title for Noblegarden.
"Yourname the Noble"