Posts with tag lunar-festival

Last week, the It came from the Blog family of guilds celebrated our second annual Lunar Lunacy. We gathered in Orgrimmar at the Lunar Festival area near the flight path. The minimum level to participate was 10, so that we could organize a raid in order to make good use of guild perks.

With participants from level 12 to 85, we got the following achievements:

• Elders of the Alliance Members of The Insiders (our sister max-level guild) summoned us with Have Group, Will Travel to the enemy cities and used Mass Resurrection as needed.
• Elders of the Horde Mage ports took us where we needed to go for this achievement.
• Elune's Blessing We defeated Omen and basked in the afterglow.

Some players also got the Frenzied Firecracker and Rocket's Red Glare achievements while we were organizing the raid.

Then those of us with all of the sub-Cataclysm Azerothian flight paths completed the Elders of Eastern Kingdoms achievement by following the Overachiever's Guide to the Lunar Festival, only abandoning one non-flying person along the way. (Sorry, Pricecut!)

Every week, just at the start of the weekend, we catch up with the WoW Insider staff and ask them, "What are you playing this week?" -- otherwise known as: WRUP. Join us to see what we're up to in and out of game, and catch us in the comments to let us know what you're playing, too!

Don't sit there sad and alone on yet another Friday night. Come on, give us a call and find out what the hottest WoW Insider writers are playing this weekend. Alex Ziebart, Adam Holisky, and more ... just waiting after the jump.

WRUP is $4.99 per minute. Please be 18 or older, or have your parents' permission. Or don't get your parents' permission. We'd actually prefer you don't, cause they'll probably just say no.

This week's bonus question: Do you still participate in in-game holidays? And do you participate in the Lunar Festival, in particular?

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.

This Saturday, the It came from the Blog family of guilds will be holding the second annual Lunar Lunacy event. We will be attempting a few Lunar Festival achievements and respecting our elders. Hopefully, they weren't paying attention to those of us who got the Scrooge achievement during the Feast of Winter Veil.

• When: Saturday, Jan, 28 at 1 p.m. EST (10 a.m. PST, 11 a.m. server time)
• Where: Meet at the Lunar Festival area near the flightpath in Orgrimmar on Zangarmarsh (US-PvE-H).
• Who: Any Horde player level 10 or higher (for raid forming)
• How: Ask Roblinator or anyone in It came from the Blog for a guild invite if you are not already in our family of guilds.
• What: The plan is to get Elders of the Alliance, Elune's Blessing and a few other achievements.

The highest character you have will probably have the most fun, as otherwise you may be abandoned with the other lowbies if we honor some flightpath elders. Death knights don't take too long to be event-ready -- just make sure you are done getting food thrown at you by the time the event begins.

Hope to see you there!

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Please join us on Zangarmarsh (US-PvE-H) in It came from the Blog. All members 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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If getting mail from dead people is your idea of a good time, then good news: The Lunar Festival starts today! Lasting until Feb. 11, the in-game holiday pays homage to the real-world Chinese New Year celebration.

If you're interested in participating, there's a lot to do during the Lunar Festival. You can set off a bunch of fireworks (don't blow your fingers off), grind out a lot of easy experience by visiting elders, and the perennial WoW holiday favorite activity, killing stuff. Check out Allison Robert's Guide to Lunar Festival 2012 for more details.

What are your goals this Lunar Festival holiday? Are you going to be making the rounds to try and finish off your What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been achievement? Try to level some alts with the aid of that sweet, free experience? Or are you going to just sleep your way through the holiday because "been there, done that"?

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Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. This week, we burn through a lot of shoe leather.

The Lunar Festival is one of WoW's more fun and forgiving holidays, and this year it runs from Sunday, Jan. 22 until Sunday, Feb. 12. That's right, folks; you've got three weeks to get everything done, which is definitely a good thing if you're new to the holiday and unfamiliar with the amount of travel time it requires. The basics of the holiday involve talking to a number of elders to honor them, receiving Coins of Ancestry in return, and then using the coins to purchase holiday items. The To Honor One's Elders meta-achievement is also a requirement for What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been, so if you're still after a Violet Proto-Drake, make sure you get this done.

The Lunar Festival is definitely not one of Azeroth's more difficult holidays, but it's time-consuming if you're starting from scratch due to the number of NPCs you'll need to hunt down. However, it's also a good time to do World Explorer and Surveying the Damage for just that reason.

Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. This week, all hell breaks loose.

Hey folks. The Littlest Pet Shop option was the most popular choice in last week's The OverAchiever: Wrapping up Mountain O' Mounts, but that was before all manner of patch 4.3 goodness was datamined on Tuesday night. I spent the subsequent 24 hours in a caffeine-fueled haze running three characters around the PTR investigating the new achievements for you.

I bring tidings of great, albeit currently bugged, joy to you all.

Your first kiss. The night of your senior prom. Lunar Festival 2011. Some events are just so memorable they live in your heart forever. And though we may wish they could last forever, they don't -- all good things must come to an end.

Try to hold back your tears: Lunar Festival, the World of Warcraft in-game holiday based around the Chinese New Year, has come to an end. Personally, I don't know what I'm going to do with myself now that the event is over. I've been spending the past few weeks obsessively running old and outdated dungeons on my max-level characters, watching 20 different people standing around Moonglade without any idea about how to summon Omen, and deleting tons of spam-like in-game mail from all sorts of "elders." And what do I have to show for it? Nothing, because I still haven't done the stupid Children's Week PvP achievements. (And I probably never will.)

But enough about me. What about you? Did you accomplish your goals for the Lunar Festival? And, gosh darn, how are you ever going to survive the next 40-plus months without experiencing the joy and fun of the holiday?

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World of Warcraft: Cataclysm has destroyed Azeroth as we know it; nothing is the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion, from leveling up a new goblin or worgen to breaking news and strategies on endgame play.

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Fireworks, bowing and death: this is what's on the agenda for today's Lunar Lunacy event, happening now. Join us in game on Zangarmarsh (US-PvE-H), if you can. Or watch the stream above and participate in the chat room after the break. The achievements we'll be attempting along with rules and tips are all located in the original announcement. Please read them before joining us in game. Everyone is welcome, as long as you're not a funsucker.

Update: The stream is now over. You can watch the video replay by clicking on the image above.

Sunday! Sunday! Sunday! It's Lunar Lunacy! Join the <It came from the Blog> family of guilds for fun of lunatic proportions! You may participate in game by bringing a character of any level, or you can watch on the stream. Admission is free! Free! Free! Standard internet connection and WoW fees may apply. So pull up a seat, but you'll only need the edge!

• When: Sunday, Jan. 30 at 1 p.m. EST (10 a.m. PST, 11 a.m. server time)
• Where: The Lunar Festival near the flightpath in Orgrimmar on Zangarmarsh (US-PvE-H)
• Who: Any level Horde character is welcome, but you will probably have the most fun with your highest-level character.
• What: Fun, achievements including Elders of the Alliance, more fun
• How: Ask Robinator or any member of <Blogling> for an invite if you are not already in one of our guilds.

The Lunar Festival achievements we will be attempting, along with other tips and rules for the event, are after the break.

The annual Lunar Festival starts tomorrow, Sunday, Jan. 23, 2011. Fighting Omen, honoring the elders, getting some lunar-looking costumes -- it's all on the docket this year again. The in-game activities will run through Feb. 12, so there's a good amount of time to get all the achievements you need.

But wait, what achievements, you ask?

Well, I'm glad you asked, because our Master of Achievement Earning and Druid Ghostcrawlering, Allison Robert, has but together a wonderful guide for 2011 Lunar Festival.

Enjoy your elders, kids!

Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. This week, we shine our light on the the Lunar Festival.

The Lunar Festival runs this year from Sunday, Jan. 23 through Sunday, Feb. 13. That's right, folks; you've got three weeks to get everything done. The basics of the holiday involve talking to a number of elders to honor them, receiving Coins of Ancestry in return, and then using the coins to purchase holiday items. The To Honor One's Elders meta-achievement is also a requirement for What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been, so if you're still after a Violet Proto-Drake, you'll need to work on this holiday. This is not one of Azeroth's more difficult holidays, but it's definitely time-consuming if you're starting from scratch; you'll need to hunt down a lot of NPCs. Due to the mileage you'll rack up doing this, this would be a great time to do World Explorer and/or Surveying the Damage. It'll also be a good excuse for higher-level characters to pick up the new flight paths that have popped up all over the place.

I've updated and expanded our 2010 guide, but fair warning -- the location of a number of elders has likely changed due to Cataclysm's impact on Azeroth's landscape. While I doubt that most of them are substantially different, nothing's been datamined yet concerning this. In the days after the holiday goes live, I'll be updating the guide to include a list of new coordinates.

EDIT: This guide is in the process of being updated. Please bear with me while I check through all the Elders!

Can you believe it's time for the Lunar Festival again? I mean, can you believe it?

To be honest, it took me a while to figure out just exactly what holiday the Lunar Festival was. Most holidays in Azeroth mirror our own, but I don't really celebrate Chinese New Year. So of course, being the uncultured (though handsome) dolt I am, I assumed the holiday was inspired by the canceled CBS drama Ghost Whisperer. Apparently, though, the Chinese New Year is a pretty big thing. Especially in China. Go figure!

For those who don't know, the Lunar Festival is a three-week-long super-holiday that involves running around the world to meet and "honor" all sorts of elders. If the whole thing tingles the same obsessive-compulsive part of your brain as it does mine, you'll find yourself one-manning all sorts of old instances, trying to honor some inconveniently located, long-forgotten spooks for a handful of gold and some holiday-only currency. If you want more information about it, it's all here in The OverAchiever: Guide to Lunar Festival 2011.

It's one of the most brutal travel-heavy holidays out there, but if you're interested in scoring that 310% mount from the What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been achievement, it's required. But is it worth it? Will you be celebrating the Lunar Festival holiday across all your alts? Are you excited about corpse-hopping your way through the opposing faction's capital cities?

I already made my rounds last year, so I think I'll just take it easy myself. Maybe order in some Chinese and catch a Camryn Manheim film festival instead.

What are evil achievements? They're the soul-killing rep grinds, the raiding milestones that required sacrificing a farm animal to get, and even fun pasttimes like battlegrounds into which a sizable dose of misery has been added. Eventually you just want to grab the nearest developer and shake him back and forth, screaming, "What the hell were you thinking?"

Last week I previewed three of the most evil achievements in the game, both to collect my own thoughts and to canvass commenters' opinions for a larger article. This week, I'd like to present the first set of evil achievements for your reading, wincing and antacid-chugging pleasure.

A note on judging the "evil value" of achievements: I've been adding to this list for a while, and it's drawn from both the achievements we've covered in this column and some I've seen players complain about frequently in game. Obviously, there's no real way to quantify exactly how difficult or excruciating achievements are, so I'm going with the definition I gave above. Any incredibly difficult or RNG-saturated achievement made the short list, but I also tried to keep some unusual picks in mind. In this vein, there's an achievement in today's column that, while extremely easy by today's standards, was a screaming horror when it first debuted. I may wind up doing a list of honorable mentions as well.

So, in no particular order, I am pleased to present World of Warcraft's 25 most evil achievements, starting with #25-16 this week.

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The Lunar Festival started this past Sunday and will be running until March 7th -- but there's no reason not to start on this one right now if you're after achievements, reputation, or have simply run out of other grinds. (Really, I mean "grind" in the nicest way possible here -- but there are a heck of a lot of elders to visit if you're trying to get your achievements.) But if you're interested in getting involved, we've rounded up all the web has to say about the Lunar Festival.

• Start at the source with Blizzard's official Lunar New Years information
• In case you missed it, we have our own write-up of elders and achievements
• Check out WoWWiki's event write-up as well as their list of elder locations
• Wowhead has a guide as well as a comprehensive list of achievements
• Flame Shock wrote up a guide and recommends the Lunar Festival Tour Guide addon for your elder-finding needs
• Letters from Birdfall has some great tips on elder locations inside dungeons
• The Fluid Druid offers some practical advice on what you're likely to encounter in this year's festival -- for my part, I keep getting stuck on the "get lost trying to find elder" stage