Posts with tag Hallows-End

Candy Run, more like Candy Fun, AMIRITE?

The It came from the Blog gang and friends always have a great time Trick or Treating. It's tonight, so if you don't already have a level 10+ character on Zangarmarsh, you need to get moving.

• When: Tonight, Tuesday, Oct 30 at 10:30 p.m. EDT (7:30 p.m. PDT, 8:30 p.m. server time)
• Where: Meet at Brill on Zangarmarsh (US-PvE-H)
• Who: Any Horde character level 10 and above, but you'll have more fun if you have a character with all the old world flightpaths.
• What: Candy, fun, running
• How: Just ask Tizzi or any member of It came from the Blog for an invite.

We'll be keeping it slow for the lowbies for the first half of the event, but then anyone without the old world flightpaths will be abandoned mercilessly while the rest of us collect more candy. So if you are new to our events and have time, create a death knight before we begin the event.

Come trick or treat with us ... unless you don't like candy and fun.

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Please join us on Zangarmarsh (US-PvE-H) in It came from the Blog. All ranks can invite, so /whisper Tizzi or any online member. You are all welcome as long as you play by our simple rules -- basically, don't be a funsucker! Visit the guild FAQ for more details.

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Boo! Yeah, It came from the Blog is Trick or Treating again and yeah, we're going to have fun as usual. No, Deathwing won't be joining us this year, since he's dead. But we don't need to die in a dragon-induced inferno in order to have a good time or even get the meta.

Here are the details:

• When: Tuesday, Oct 30 at 10:30 p.m. EDT (7:30 p.m. PDT, 8:30 p.m. server time)
• Where: Meet at Brill on Zangarmarsh (US-PvE-H)
• Who: Any Horde character level 10 and above, but you'll have more fun if you have a character with all the old world flightpaths.
• What: Candy
• How: Just ask Tizzi or any member of It came from the Blog for an invite.

Even if you normally play Alliance, we hope you will make an exception and join the dark side in order to Trick or Treat with us. We have cookies.*

We hope to see you there!

*Cookies are not included in this event.

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Please join us on Zangarmarsh (US-PvE-H) in It came from the Blog. Al ranks can invite, so /whisper Tizzi or any online member. You are all welcome as long as you play by our simple rules -- basically, don't be a funsucker! Visit the guild FAQ for more details.

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Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today.

If you do, I will never forgive you.

Chris asked:

Is there anything new for Hallow's End?

Yesterday, Hallow's End went live for the seventh time! The holiday began as a modest one, but it has evolved into one of WoW's most elaborate. Over the years, it has endured more controversy and intrigue than any other holiday. Let's take a look back!

The first Hallow's End

The original incarnation of Hallow's End went live in October 2005. The files were included with patch 1.8. It was a far cry from the elaborate holiday we know today with its quests, achievements, vendors, masks, and ghosts taunting us with awful poetry.

Here is Blizzard's 2005 introduction:

When the decorations of Hallow's End light up Azeroth's cities, you know there's mischief afoot! Seek special vendors in Orgrimmar or Ironforge and get your hands on treats! Aid a sick orphan in a little trick-or-treating! Darkcaller Yanka, attending the Forsaken's Wickerman Festival, and Sergeant Hartman of Southshore are seeking your aid in keeping the enemy out of their holiday affairs - are you up to the challenge?

The first Hallow's End wasn't much to write home about. Towns were decorated with pumpkins. The inns got apple bobbing. In addition, the holiday made three quests available. The first was to collect candy from capital cities for your faction's kids. The other two were faction specific -- and were the focus of intense forum-griping.

Every week, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. Today, our yearly sugar rush.

Hallow's End 2012 begins on Thursday, Oct. 18 and runs through Wednesday, Oct. 31 this year. As with most of the game's holidays, Hallow's End is required for the yearlong meta What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been that grants the Violet Proto-Drake. Completing the required Hallow's End achievements will also award the title the Hallowed.

Last year, Blizzard added some major updates and improvements to the holiday, one of which completely eliminated the hassle behind one of WoW's most hideous RNG nightmares, and one of which left us with two very badass non-combat pets. In essence, Tricky Treats -- once a vomit-inducing item that dropped in spades from the holiday boss, the Headless Horseman -- are now a form of currency that players can use to buy pets, masks, wands, and other holiday items. 2011 also introduced a new set of quests associated with Hallow's End, one of which sends you into an enemy city without the fear of ugly death.

Bottom line: If you weren't around for last year's holiday, a lot of stuff may interest you this year. If you were around for last year, you'll still be interested, as the Headless Horseman's set of dropped epics are a lot more compelling at the beginning of an expansion. Hardcore achievement hunters will also be pleased to note an additional 10 points in the form of Tricks and Treats of Pandaria.

As with most of our holiday guides, I've arranged the achievements in the rough order they should be completed, noting which achievements are required for the meta and which aren't.

In addition to all the other things Wowhead has found in the latest beta patch, we're apparently getting updated Hallow's End loot as well. At ilevel 470, these epic rings are slightly superior to the blue items dropping in Mists' heroic dungeons. What are we looking at so far?

• The Band of the Petrified Pumpkin, a strength DPS ring.
• Seal of Ghoulish Glee, an agility DPS ring.
• The Horseman's Ring, an int ring with hit on it. That's caster DPS, right? I'm going to assume that's what it is.
• Wicked Witch's Signet, a caster ring with spirit on it. That's for healing, right?

There's also an updated Horseman's Horrific Hood and the Horseman's Sinister Saber, but both are slighly lower in ilevel (463), so we're not sure about them yet. All of it seems to suggest that the plan is for Mists to come out before Halloween, which I suspect most of us already believed.

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It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!

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Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. This week, some holidays are easier to survive than others.

I've been getting a lot of comments and feedback from players recently over troublesome elder placement during the Lunar Festival (the one next to the Razor Hill flightmaster seems to be a particular issue -- more on this in a future article), and it spurred me to start thinking about problematic holiday achievements as a whole. Thing is, Blizzard's really put a lot of effort into its holidays over the past few years, and most of them are much less time-consuming and frustrating then they used to be.

So how many really troublesome holiday achievements are there these days, anyhow? Most of them didn't figure prominently in our evil achievements series (with one sterling exception), but I'll grant that not all of them are sunshine and roses.

But then of course, there's that one. Yes, that one -- the achievement shat into existence by Satan himself onto a bed of Ed Hardy clothing with bad Japanese pop music playing in the background. You know the one I'm talking about.

Once upon a time, It came from the Blog embarked on a Candy Run through the Eastern Kingdoms. We began at Brill, traveled to Silvermoon, then the Undercity, through Silverpine Forest and on to Hillsbrad Foothills. There were candy, tricks, treats, and lots of running.

Then one bright and sunny afternoon, the sugar-rushed travelers trekked through Arathi Highlands. Someone said, "Wouldn't it be cool if Deathwing appeared?" Everyone agreed it would. Three minutes later, we were tested on that notion.

Deathwing swooped down upon us and toasted us like s'mores at a campout. He then stuck around long enough to make sure that it took us several minutes to successfully resurrect without being toasted. But then he left us to go on his fiery way. Charred but undaunted, we continued our candy run.

You want pictures? We got your pictures right here.

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Please join us on Zangarmarsh (US-PvE-H) in It came from the Blog. All guild rankscan invite, so /whisper Roblinator or any online member. You are all welcome as long as you play by our simple rules -- basically, don't be a funsucker! Visit the guild FAQ for more details.

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This movie is a little old. I nearly didn't run it because of timeliness issues; after all, Halloween and its in-game equivalent was nearly a month ago. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, for goodness's sake! But then I watched the video and knew I had to feature it. SilverLetomi and Tyrannothefirst did an amazing job with Hallow's Dream, and I felt it needed to be seen.

The song is obviously well performed, and the machinima is fantastically spooky for a Hallow's End video. I definitely like the rock and roll angle, since guitars can be few and far between in contemporary machinima. The team picked out some awesome visuals to illustrate the action, leaving us with a comprehensive, fun video.

Pardon the delay on this Hallow's End video, but take the time to kick back and enjoy the fun. Then go eat some turkey tomorrow.

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Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.

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Lady Sylvanas's feet are on fire! There's only one thing to do: Run around and collect candy. Well, Murkablo's idea is to try to set my feet on fire, but that's his solution to everything.

Anyway, here's what you need to know about the Candy Run:

• When: Sunday, Oct. 30 at 1 p.m. EDT (10 a.m. PDT, 11 a.m. server time)
• Where: Meet at Brill on Zangarmarsh (US-PVE-H)
• Who: Any level Horde character. If you're bringing a death knight, make sure you are approved by the Warchief before the event starts.
• How: Just ask any It came from the Blog member for an invite to the guild.
• What: We'll put out the Brill fires, then traverse the land on foot to collect candy. Protect the lowbies! When we get to high-level territory, we will probably continue via flight paths or mounts -- abandoning the lowbies -- time permitting.

We won't have a raid group, but we will have a chat channel specifically for the event. If you are on a trial account, you are free to tag along -- but unfortunately, your trial status won't allow you to join the chat channel.

You're all invited, as long as you aren't a funsucker. Please join us!

Here are some pictures from the previous two events:

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Please join us on Zangarmarsh (US-PVE-H) in It came from the Blog. Any member can invite, so /whisper Roblinator or any online member. You are all welcome as long as you play by our simple rules -- basically, don't be a funsucker! Visit the guild FAQ for more details.

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This is Kegilert's first video, in which she examines the mysterious Creepy Crate. You can pick up the companion as part of the Hallow's End holiday. It turns out ... the crate eats critters! This kind of discovery virtually mandates some investigative journalism, and Kegilert set out to find out Is it Nommable?

You can see as Kegilert sets out exploring the world on her character Arkadie, finding out which of the world's critters are nommable. The video is almost a little frightening when you consider the seemingly endless hunger of the creepy crate.

I have to admit this video gets me excited to log in and go get a crate of my own.

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Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.

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Hallow's End 2011 is upon us this morning, and with it comes a lot of new content. There's new loot to grab from the Headless Horseman, new pets to get from quests and vendors, and new daily quests to run. Unsure of where to start? Remember, our Hallow's End Achievement guide is always here for you.

I have to say, the Headless Horseman may very well be my favorite WoW villain. He's classic, he's spooky, and his voice and gimmick are a whole lot of fun. I'm almost sad he's only around for a few weeks every year. This year, I'll definitely be after his helm so it's there as a transmogrification option in patch 4.3. I'll also be grabbing the new pets for sure, and hopefully one of each mask so I can finally get that silly achievement done. I'm also really hoping the new Gilneas vs. Undercity subplot provides some new lore for our sadly neglected furry friends.

So how about it -- are you ready to get started? Will you be aiming for a set of Reins and the Hallowed title this year? Are you after a couple of pets? Are you excited to visit your old crazy friend in the Scarlet Monastery every day? Or are you just taking it easy?

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Hallow's End is nearly upon us, and this year looks like it's going to have a whole bunch of fun new things to keep us occupied, from new pets to new loot to new quests.

To start with, the famous wickerman of Undercity will now have a Stormwind equivalent, maintained by the Gilneans. Alliance and Horde will have a chance to honor their own wickerman or douse the one that belongs to the opposing faction. In addition, you'll be able to go on a stink bomb run over Stormwind or Undercity, or clean up after the other sides' bombing. You can read up on all of these quests, which are dailies, in Allison's Hallow's End Achievement Guide.

The Headless Horseman will once again lurk in the Scarlet Monastery graveyard, with his usual outlay of rings, his helm (perfect for transmogrification), and his sword, all of which will now be ilevel 365. His Reins will also be a possible reward from the first kill each day, of course. Again, you can find a complete list of his loot in our Hallow's End Achievement Guide.

Tricky Treats, those annoying things that you couldn't destroy fast enough in years past, will now buy you stuff. Vendors this year will sell every single Halloween mask for two Tricky Treats each, and two different pets, the Feline Familiar and the Little Wickerman, for 150 Tricky Treats each. Tricky Treats will be awarded from various quests or Hands of Treats from trick-or-treat buckets in inns around the world.

The holiday officially starts Oct. 18, so get ready! There's lots of new stuff to do this year, and not much time to do it in, especially if you're not about to tear yourself away from BlizzCon, even for a flying horse.

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