Breakfast Topic: Do you actually do holiday events?
by Josh Myers 
Feb 7th 2011 at 8:00AM
I remember a World of Warcraft before achievement points. Shortly before their introduction at the tail end of The Burning Crusade, Brewfest hit. By this holiday, the full list of achievement points was up on the PTR, and players all over Azeroth were getting mad that Blizzard included Disturbing the Peace as a requisite for the Brewmaster. Since Dalaran wasn't released yet, it was impossible to do during that Brewfest. They would have to wait until September 2009's Brewfest to complete their What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been achievement. Disturbing the Peace has since been removed from the Brewmaster achievement.
At that time, I was incredulous as to why people were getting so mad over an achievement point. On one of my fact-finding missions to the general forums, I found out some of the reasons for the outbursts of rage I was seeing. Most people were just mad because they didn't want to wait a year for their Violet Proto-Drake. A minority, however, were mad because they would have to do Brewfest two years in a row.
As someone who has amassed a grand total of 18 holiday achievements -- all of Hallowed be Thy Name, four Brewfests, and two more -- over three years of playing the same character as my main, it made sense to me that people didn't want to do Brewfest. Holiday events hold no attraction for me; I'd sooner go level an alt or alt-tab and write an article for WoW Insider than do the current Love is in the Air event. I'm not quite sure what it is about them, but in-game holidays just bore me, and I've never cared enough about the Violet Proto-Drake to bother doing them.
What about you? Do you log on at 8 a.m. every Christmas morning to get your He Knows if You've Been Naughty achievement on every new alt you've made that year? Did you complete the Midsummer Fire Festival once on your main so you could get your epic mount and then shun it forever? Are you going to pull a me, who stands AFK in Orgrimmar boggling at people running around with their Peddlefeet?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
SumDuud Feb 7th 2011 8:05AM
Did them in my achievement toon at wrath launch, now I don't care about them. If there is a fun pet or I am helping a friend I will, but I don't do them just to do them.
The Dewd Feb 7th 2011 1:51PM
This is how I feel. I did Long Strange Trip on my main and did a lot of the holiday stuff on alts and wound up getting the coveted candy bag achievement from Love is in the Air on my healer a couple of years ago. I realized I might be able to do the entire thing - except she wasn't anywhere near 80. I self-powered her through questing and managed to get to 80 and zone into Naxx with about an hour left on my last Love Fool.
I love the 310 flying that I got for "free" but I really don't have any desire to do that again on a third toon. I know some folks do it and if they enjoy, that's fine. (I also know someone who refuses to finish because he hates PvP and doesn't want to try to do School of Hard Knocks - even though it's the last thing he needs to complete Long Strange Trip.) At this point, I don't think I could stand to do the entire set of holiday metas again and refuse to get back up on that horse.
Sometimes I'll poke at them a bit if I see something on my way while flying - like an Elder outside a town I'm leaving. I'd rather save up the ~4k gold for the 310 flying instead.
AGx07162 Feb 7th 2011 4:37PM
I'm in that same boat. None of them are fun enough for my time.
Mummrah Feb 7th 2011 5:15PM
Not after I completed the meta on my main. I'd rather pay the 5k gold for each of my alts then to have to repeat all those holiday achievements again on even one of them.
spac3rat Feb 7th 2011 8:07AM
Couldn't care less about them. In fact, I find them annoying.
monkeyhouse Feb 7th 2011 8:17AM
so you never tried for the headless horsemen's reins? pfft.
Jamie Feb 7th 2011 8:24AM
@monkeyhouse:
Just because the vast/vocal majority wants something doesn't mean everyone wants something ;)
JT Feb 7th 2011 10:57AM
I get that WoW (and all MMOs, really) keeps people playing by constant shifting the goals.
But I find getting a seasonal achievement and title VERY far down on the lift of goals I'd like to accomplish.
Somewhere around down around "Leveling fishing" and "/loving squirrels."
There are dragons to kill and we're supposed to fly around Azeroth collecting coins? No thanks.
eblume Feb 7th 2011 12:48PM
I couldn't agree more, and I want to echo JT's response. I consider seasonal events in this game to be just slightly, barely more fun than fishing or doing daily quests, and a little *less* fun than heroic Stonecore.
Eisengel Feb 7th 2011 9:25PM
In general I have the same feeling. There are four notable exceptions for me though; the Hallowed title for my Spriest, the HH mount for my Spriest, the fire festival XP buff for alts and trick-or-treat XP for alts. Otherwise, I'm pretty insensitive to them.
MusedMoose Feb 7th 2011 8:10AM
I usually only do them if I'm trying to get a certain item or title for a character. For example, I want "Flame Warden" for my fire mage, for obvious reasons. I'd like to get "Brewmaster" for my paladin, mostly 'cause he's a dwarf, and tanking means he gets hit in the head a lot, hence the drinking. ^_^ I got several of my alts the festival garb from this year's Lunar Festival, because they're nifty outfits. And in previous years, I've done events just to get enough of the holiday currency to get a pet for a character who collected pets. So it really varies.
For this event, though, it's the last one I need to get my mage the meta-achievement and the proto-drake. I'm really hoping all the bugs get fixed. @_@
fromtheboxofweasel@gmail.com Feb 7th 2011 8:11AM
I do most of them. I don't really do the new Love is in the Air so much. It was easier to casually participate in when it was the NPCs with the perfume/cologne thing. Now it's that new farming style with the token kit and it feels a little less holiday-ish and more just like standard farming for me.
Don't get me wrong, I understand why it happened and truthfully it needed to happen. The luck of the draw factor on that meta was frustrating, RNG isn't a fun reason to miss out on something like that. This way things are a little less dependent on that luck of the draw; it's just less appealing to me than the old way since I've completed the meta.
monkeyhouse Feb 7th 2011 8:13AM
i do them on one or 2 toons but have given up recently. with the loss of Dalaran and Shatrath and major hubs, it is a nightmare trying to do the race/class combos of the opposing faction. also i am fed up fighting the RNG - it really adds a level of stress to the game that i just do not need.
with the current holidays overlapping and the Love is in the Air being so badly bugged, Blizz make it so frustrating to do, they are not fun anymore, just a chore.
the titles and pets/mounts are nice though.
Gendou Feb 7th 2011 8:13AM
I log onto every one of my alts at Winter Veil so I can get the presents. I don't really care about the achievement.
Normally I shun the holiday achievements unless there's something I particularly want - a title or an item, for example.
However, on my new RP character, I'm seriously considering attempting the Long Strange Trip achievement, if only to save myself 5K gold.
We'll see how long this new dedication to holidays lasts, however.
Kassima Feb 7th 2011 8:55AM
I'm really sorry if I am behind the times on this,
BUT I'm almost sure that 310% flying speed is no longer awarded from mounts after 4.0?
The only way for new characters to get it, is by buying the skill?
Or did I misunderstand the whole thing?
Will the violet Proto (and other achiev drakes) give 310% free?
Jason Feb 7th 2011 9:11AM
Blizzard has said that you will get 310% flight (if you already have 280%) when you get the Violet Proto-Drake.
Grak Feb 7th 2011 9:12AM
When they changed 310% flying speed to a purchasable skill, it was originaly removed from the Violet drake. After plenty of people collectively said "wtf?" Blizzard must have realised that maybe making people jump through buggy inane hoops for a year might just actually deserve a 310% mount speed reward.
TL;DR The Violet drake does now award 310% speed.
Aticus Feb 7th 2011 9:54AM
If u read the achiv, it says Rewards: VPD and Master Riding.
molsen5 Feb 7th 2011 8:13AM
I did them all when they first came out in vanilla. Then once again for the drake. However at this point i just think it is strange that blizzard has not taken the time to update them. At first they were kind of fun because they were something MMOs had never really done but now it's just the same recycled crap.
razion Feb 7th 2011 8:58AM
All the events were fun the first time around for me. Out of all of them my favorite was and is Brewfest if only because of the Ale War and the background drunk goblin chattering. Definitely the most original holiday I've celebrated in this lifetime.
However events are not fun the second time around. You've done the ram racing, and you've gotten all the mounts. And if you haven't, why bother?
The events don't evolve, and frankly, that's something I think Blizzard needs to work on so we keep our interest in them. Otherwise, why have them at all?