Darkmoon Faire ticket clarifications
by Mathew McCurley 
Dec 6th 2011 at 5:45PM
Bashiok's post clearly points out that the max number of tickets a player can get during each Darkmoon Island week is 145 tickets. The only issue is that a mount from the Darkmoon Faire costs 180 tickets, so players will have to wait until the next Darkmoon Island opens to claim their first mount reward. Now that the number of tickets is spelled out, it doesn't actually seem as bad as I originally thought it was going to be.
However, the weird thing that still permeates all of this is why playing the games at the Faire, the real focus of the island, rewards players with the lowest amount of tickets. The random Darkmoon artifacts that you get as drops from PvP, dungeons, and raids give substantially more in terms of tickets than the games themselves; the random pickups or Auction House items eclipse the daily games in terms of rewards. I really like the new Faire and hope that the prize ticket changes for the games can be upped to reflect their focus.
Hit the jump to read Bashiok's breakdown of Darkmoon Faire tickets.
Darkmoon Faire Tickets
Thanks everyone for your feedback. To hopefully clear up some of the confusion over time investment vs reward costs we've broken down exactly how many tickets you can obtain in a single Darkmoon Faire week. The design intent of the Darkmoon Faire is that it's available for one week out of the month, and in that one week we expect you to be able to obtain a significant amount of tickets. To clarify the OP's point of how long it would take to obtain an entire set of cosmetic gear, the math presented was incorrect, and it would in fact only take 4 Darkmoon Faire weeks to complete an entire set. That's of course still no quick task, and the intent is not for it to be. There are plenty of rewards that can be obtained in one or two weeks of the Darkmoon Faire, but we expect that an entire set will take a few events to obtain.
Here's the breakdown:
Tickets Per Faire
Dungeon: 40
Heroic Dungeon: 15
Raid: 10
Tradeskill quests (primary): 8
Tradeskill quests (secondary): 12
BGs: 15
Kill Quest: 10
Mini Games*: 35
Total Tickets per faire: 145
* 5 mini games, available daily: 7*5=35
As an example, here are some options that you can choose over the course of two Darkmoon Faires (2 weeks over 2 months):
Prioritizing mounts/pets: 1 mount + 1 pet, with 20 tickets to spare
Prioritizing pets: 3 pets, 20 tickets to spare
Prioritizing cosmetic armor: 4 pieces of cosmetic armor, with 30 tickets to spare
Prioritizing heirloom armor: 1 piece of heirloom armor + 1 heirloom weapon, with 20 tickets to spare
Keeping all of this in mind we don't feel the current ticket acquisition rates or reward costs are out of hand, but we're interested to hear your thoughts after reading this information and considering the longevity of the content, as well as the 'once a month' format of the faire. We'll be continually evaluating it, and we're looking forward to incorporating more goodies to be won, and more activities to the faire, in the future.
Here's the breakdown:
Tickets Per Faire
Dungeon: 40
Heroic Dungeon: 15
Raid: 10
Tradeskill quests (primary): 8
Tradeskill quests (secondary): 12
BGs: 15
Kill Quest: 10
Mini Games*: 35
Total Tickets per faire: 145
* 5 mini games, available daily: 7*5=35
As an example, here are some options that you can choose over the course of two Darkmoon Faires (2 weeks over 2 months):
Prioritizing mounts/pets: 1 mount + 1 pet, with 20 tickets to spare
Prioritizing pets: 3 pets, 20 tickets to spare
Prioritizing cosmetic armor: 4 pieces of cosmetic armor, with 30 tickets to spare
Prioritizing heirloom armor: 1 piece of heirloom armor + 1 heirloom weapon, with 20 tickets to spare
Keeping all of this in mind we don't feel the current ticket acquisition rates or reward costs are out of hand, but we're interested to hear your thoughts after reading this information and considering the longevity of the content, as well as the 'once a month' format of the faire. We'll be continually evaluating it, and we're looking forward to incorporating more goodies to be won, and more activities to the faire, in the future.
Brace yourselves for what could be some of most exciting updates to the game recently with patch 4.3. Review the official patch notes, and then dig into what's ahead: new item storage options, cross-realm raiding, cosmetic armor skinning and your chance to battle the mighty Deathwing -- from astride his back!
Filed under: Cataclysm
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 4)
Annalietta Dec 7th 2011 7:11AM
I don't raid, do heroics or PvP and by my count I can still get 105 tickets per fair as 4 of the dungeon drops can be obtained in easily soloable dungeons.
Tickets Per Faire
Dungeon: 40
Tradeskill quests (primary): 8
Tradeskill quests (secondary): 12
Kill Quest: 10
Mini Games*: 35
Total Tickets per faire: 105
* 5 mini games, available daily: 7*5=35
broiledbrat Dec 6th 2011 5:57PM
This is the kind of creativity Blizzard needs to lean towards more often. Kudos to the devs.
ZodiacDragons Dec 6th 2011 7:38PM
Personally, I would have thought it'd be more creative to get tickets for "beating" the game, daily or not. Maybe make the games a little more challenging so people aren't just farming the rifle and tonk games and leave the daily so the people who aren't good at the games can still get tickets. I understand why they wouldn't but I think it defeats the purpose of making this great fun zone meant to (to me at least) be a break from raiding and dungeon grinding only to get one ticket per game per day.
Nathanyel Dec 6th 2011 5:59PM
You can get 8x5 from dailies, as you can do dailies on Sunday night already, before 3am.
Noyou Dec 6th 2011 6:25PM
Profession and secondary profession quests are weekly, which means you can only do them once per month, since the faire is one week per month. The game quests are daily, which is 5 per day.
Nathanyel Dec 6th 2011 6:35PM
Stray reply? I didn't mention the non-daily quests.
Noyou Dec 6th 2011 9:00PM
The faire runs 7 days. It starts Sunday morning and it ends Sunday morning. So for game dailies it's 5 per day x 7 days. It should end before the dailies reset for the 8th time.
Noyou Dec 6th 2011 9:17PM
Next months faire will most likely start after the dailies reset on Sunday. ;)
jim Dec 7th 2011 10:59AM
This is what the OP meant:
12am-4am Sunday : Chance 1
Sunday 4am : Chance 2
Monday 4am : Chance 3
Tuesday : Chance 4
Wednesday 4am : Chance 5
Thursday 4am : Chance 6
Friday 4am : Chance 7
Saturday 4am : Chance 8
The faire appeared at midnight on Sunday, and I would bet it does every month. So if you have 5 dailies free at midnight on Sunday, you have a four hour window to get an 8th day worth of tickets from the faire.
Nathanyel Dec 7th 2011 5:30PM
3am or 4am, it varies with DST
DragonFireKai Dec 6th 2011 6:04PM
Well, if the non daily quests reset every faire, then it does take a lot of the sting out of the grind.
deymorin Dec 6th 2011 6:11PM
Is there a site or article that is based on live realm (not PTR) that lays out the how and where you get all the quests?
I've only been there on my warrior alt. I picked up the strength one (collect grisly trophies) I got the book which got me a shard or something drop in Strathholme. Another one dropped so I passed on it, thinking I could only get one. I've done the daily games.
I had no idea you could get more than one dungeon drop, or that the drop from BG's were separate from dungeon drops. I don't remember seeing a kill quest, or tradeskill quests... If there is one thing I think Blizz dropped the ball on for the new DMF it is in game explanation of how and where to earn tickets.
Noyou Dec 6th 2011 6:27PM
If you don't see a quest giver ! pop up, it means you did it for the week or your skill level in your profession is not high enough. You need a skill of 75 to do any profession quests.
tabardsrock Dec 6th 2011 6:29PM
I have my guide on my hunter, but have yet to be able to loot even a Grisly Trophy. Wowhead comments say that I have to get the killing blow, which hasn't happened in the dungeons I've been running. Not sure if that's really the case, though.
Nyold Dec 6th 2011 6:45PM
Incorrect for the killing blow. I've gotten some on my healer, which does ZERO dps. No, I wasn't dpsing, not an atonement disc-priest, did not use Thorns, or ret aura, or searing totem.
LynMars Dec 6th 2011 7:24PM
There are info-giver NPCs with extension menu options that explain how things work, at the portals in Mulgore and Elwynn, and at the Faire itself right when you get there (she also gives you new/another dungeon guides if you don't have the breadcrumb quest).
mord Dec 6th 2011 6:15PM
I can't get a book on two of my characters. The DMF guys in SW will not offer me the breadcrumb quest. What gives?
ldene Dec 6th 2011 6:21PM
have you already dont that quest from previous DMFs? tried going straight to the npc on the island and asking for it?
tabardsrock Dec 6th 2011 6:26PM
I had the same issue. Just go to the greeters that stand near the portals in Elwynn or Mulgore. They'll give you a guide.
Chris Gonzalez Dec 6th 2011 6:29PM
You can get it without the breadcrumb quest by talking to the greeter at the Faire. The reason you can't is because you did a previous Darkmoon Faire-related quest, and for some reason, it keeps you from doing the new one. Don't know which quest, though.