Breakfast Topic: Give 'em an inch and they'll take a mile
by Jeremy Watson 
Oct 9th 2010 at 8:00AM
WoW holidays are special times. There are gifts and games, costumes and cavorting, and copious amounts of food and booze. However, once I mine the holiday's quests and achievements, I like to find things to do during the remaining time that don't have anything to do with the intended purpose of the festival. Whether it be using the holiday items in ways they weren't meant to be like storing "Bravado" Cologne from Love Is In The Air in my guild's bank so my rogue is the nicest-smelling ruffian you'll ever smell as he sneaks up behind you, or taking advantage of the terrible, terrible travesty that is PvP battlegrounds during Children's Week to rack up some easy honorable kills while everyone's focused on getting the achievements and people who never touch battlegrounds with a 10-foot-polearm jump in with both feet, sometimes holidays have little extra bonuses that just take a little thinking outside the box to enjoy.
My most recent holiday adventure was during Brewfest. As I'm sure many people realized, the rams you get to race around outside Ironforge make excellent temporary mounts for low-level toons looking for a quick ride. I took the opportunity to roll a dwarven paladin because it had been a while since I laid some holy smack down, and by simply accepting the There and Back Again quest, riding the ram around Dun Morogh to my next destination and then abandoning the quest, I effectively had a mount throughout my first 10 levels (or at least half the time, since each ride was a one-way trip).
It's obvious Blizzard encourages this playful attitude; see Dartol's Rod of Transformation, for example. What other workarounds have you discovered while playing, whether from other temporary events like the holidays or more regular things like quests?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Guest Posts
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
vee222222 Oct 9th 2010 8:27AM
I found that a lot of low level questing zones in Cata will give you a mount to avoid a mind less stroll.
lolikitty Oct 9th 2010 9:01AM
*grumbles incoherently* Vanilla .... level 40 .... in the snow ... uphill both ways .... now where is my chamomille tea ? Damn glasses.
ashkaryo Oct 9th 2010 9:37AM
Oh good lord do I remember that. Ah back in the day, leveling as a resto druid (because I really really like healing people), feeling so proud of have Innervate as my 31 pt talent and seeing how silly feral was for having two in their tree. *sips tea, rocks in rocking chain* Oh yea and back in our day epic mounts didn't have armor on them.
Ad134 Oct 9th 2010 11:12AM
I need a lawn, so I can tell kids to get off it.
slythwolf Oct 9th 2010 4:48PM
Well, Ad134, you face a bit of a quandary. If they implemented player housing, then you could have a lawn, but you'd have to sit on it grumbling about how in your day there was no player housing.
NecDW4 Oct 10th 2010 12:49AM
Ahhh yes, back when if you wanted a cool looking fiery horse of doom you had to EARN it, at 60, and it cost 600 gold, plus required a very long and difficult quest chain that required you to get a group with the sole purpose of you get a mount and they get nothing.
*puts on suspenders and hikes up pants*
Ata Oct 9th 2010 8:29AM
The rod of transformation is going to be changed so that it only works in Ashenvale. The old one will stay the same, but the new one will no longer work outside of the zone.
I refuse to do the Children's Week achievements because of the attitude of the people in BG's who take advantage of the people who won't do PVP otherwise. Really puts off any will to BG I might have once had.
That said. I still have a festive mug from the tables set around at new years that says its got 0 duration left, but doesnt go away, for a free feather fall when I need it, without being an enchanter. Popping a Direbrew remote can have some amusing side affects inside of a dungeon, but it can also get one kicked for being a jerk, too.
Its fun turning into a snowman during the Fire Festival, though, or riding around on a reindeer then too.
MH Oct 9th 2010 3:45PM
Curious what you mean take advantage of. Kill them repeatedly? Don't just let them finish the achieve and AFK out of the BG? It's PvP you know...
Muchao Oct 9th 2010 4:53PM
"for a free feather fall when I need it, without being an enchanter."
I, on the other hand, glyphed my mage's Slow Fall so it wouldn't need a feather, got parachutes from engineering, and did the quest to get Evonice's Landin' Pilla. I'm not sure why I felt like one character needed so many slow fall options.
Draol Oct 9th 2010 8:34AM
You know the Orb of the Sin'Dorei, right? That orb that drops in MGT, turns you into a blood elf?
Well I got one of those while farming the White Hawkstrider. Being a Blood Elf already, the item did absolutely nothing. But there's a trick to make it do something, at least if you're a male Blood Elf (not sure about female blood elves).
Take some Pygmy Oil. Chug it til yer a gnome. Use the orb. Poof, 5 minute sex change.
It's quite amusing; especially since i'm on a RP realm. Hehehe...
lolikitty Oct 9th 2010 8:55AM
If you have a female toon and want to transform into a male blood elf, drink the Iron Boot Flask, then pop the orb, and voilà !
Peebers Oct 9th 2010 9:20PM
Going in and out of stealth would change the sex and costume if deviate fish gave you the yarrr buff. Dunno if it still does
cygnus Oct 9th 2010 1:25PM
My untrained eye wouldn't see the difference, but probably other BE's might.
(for the alliance, btw)
Hih Oct 9th 2010 8:41AM
Dartol's Rod of Transformation. Proof that the Devs prefer Alliance over Horde.
D:
bair.andy Oct 9th 2010 9:01AM
I would argue that it's proof they prefer furbolgs over Alliance.
Rufio Oct 9th 2010 9:07AM
This ol' chesnut eh. I can only assume you're joking. This debate is as old as the game itself...
martustheswordsman Oct 9th 2010 9:25AM
No. The Saurfang Roleplay is proof that the devs prefer Alliance over Horde :P
Darky Oct 9th 2010 10:28AM
Now what does Dranosh stand for again?
Grovinofdarkhour Oct 9th 2010 12:33PM
"Damn right, Alliance never orders sushi here"
MusedMoose Oct 9th 2010 9:07AM
"taking advantage of the terrible, terrible travesty that is PvP battlegrounds during Children's Week to rack up some easy honorable kills while everyone's focused on getting the achievements and people who never touch battlegrounds with a 10-foot-polearm jump in with both feet"
"It's obvious Blizzard encourages this playful attitude"
I really, really hope I don't play on your realm or in your battlegroup if you consider deliberately making a difficult achievement even more frustrating to be 'playful'. Sheesh. When I was trying to get "School of Hard Knocks", people were actually being kind to each other, letting others capture flags and bases back and forth, so everyone could get their achievements. The things they called people who did what you're talking about here, well, I'm too polite to repeat them.
I really think there's something wrong with people whose idea of fun is making things difficult for others. -_-