Posts with tag winter-veil

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.

The gifts have been unwrapped. The cheese logs have been consumed, the Greench's plans foiled, the eyes shot out. The Winter Veil holiday is drawing to a close today -- you have only a few short hours to get everything you wanted to accomplish done. (If you don't want to miss anything, you should probably check out The Overachiever's Guide to Winter Veil 2011.)

That said, those of us here at WoW Insider want to know: Were you able to achieve all your in-game goals for the Winter Veil holiday? Did you get all the achievements you hoped for? Was Greatfather Winter kind to you? Did you make a fortune selling Small Eggs? Or did you just say "bah, humbug" to the entire holiday?

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12 Days of Winter Veil is under way here at WoW Insider. That means 12 days of giveaways, from loot codes to gaming mice to decor and apparel. Whether you've been a good goblin or a naughty night elf, there's a chance that WoW Insider has a holiday gift for you this season.

If there's a man or woman alive who doesn't like turning into wacky things in World of Warcraft, I haven't met them. Today, from WoWTCGLoot.com, we have a Fool's Gold loot code. Use it to turn you and your friends into kobolds! You no take pyrite!

To enter for a chance to win, leave a comment on this post before 11:59 p.m. ET, Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2012. You can only enter once. We will choose one winner at random. Make sure the email address you use to post entry comments here is one that you check regularly, because that's how we'll contact our winners. Because this is a purely digital item, readers of all regions may enter for a chance to win.

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This year's unique Winter Veil gift is the Gaudy Winter Veil Sweater. You can wear this lovely sweater while caroling in enemy cities in order to earn this year's unique achievement: A-Caroling We Will Go. If you don't get this Feat of Strength by the second of January, then you will have received an ugly holiday sweater for nothing. (Well, almost nothing. You still get the Gaudy Winter Veil Sweater achievement, but that's not as exciting.)

So the It came from the Blog family of guilds will be singing our hearts out (probably literally) in enemy cities this Friday night for our Caroling Carnage event.

• When: Friday, Dec. 30 at 11 p.m. EST (8 p.m. PST, 9 p.m. server)
• Where: Meet under the tree in Orgrimmar on Zangarmarsh (US-PvE-H)
• Who: Any level Horde character, the higher the better.
• How: Ask anyone in It came from the Blog for an invite to the guild, if you are not in our family of guilds already.

Warning: As our delightful singing will take place in enemy cities, we will not be welcomed as cheerfully as carolers are in shelters and assisted living facilities. There will be death -- our death -- and lots of it ... hence, Caroling Carnage.

If you decide to make a death knight in order to join us, please make sure you are welcomed into the Horde before the beginning of the event.

For one night, don't wait in those long Raid Finder or space opera queues. Instead, join us for some dangerous singing while wearing fashionably questionable clothing.

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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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We've come to expect our holiday bosses to work a certain way here in World of Warcraft. Once every few months, we get a chance to go queue up for a unique boss that drops some nice loot to provide easy upgrades for casual players, and we get a daily package with a chance at some sort of fun pet or mount, as well as a BoE weapon. This has been a very nice arrangement for all involved.

This year on Winter Veil, Blizzard muddied the waters a bit. Rather than put the boss in a dungeon, Blizzard put him right smack dab in Alterac, uninstanced, and made the daily package come from a daily quest. Now, if you want to kill him, you have to fly out to him and grab a group, then take him down.

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!

Happy holidays! Merry Christmas! Those of us here at WoW Insider are busy decking the halls, trimming the trees, and in the case of Mat McCurley, making last-minute reservations at a New York City Chinese restaurant. Dec. 25 means something different to all of us, but to me, it will always mean one thing: presents. Getting presents. Lots and lots of presents.

And since the true meaning of Christmas, contrary to all those television specials, is getting gifts, I organized the first ever WoW Insider Winter Veil Secret Santa. After the break, all our columnists are giving each other gifts such that they may receive gifts in the true spirit of the holiday -- with a little bit of traditional WRUPing mixed in, too.

In that same spirit, I'm offering you, the reader, some of the absolute worst Christmas movies and TV specials. It's all condensed into bite-sized videos for your holiday enjoyment.

12 Days of Winter Veil is under way here at WoW Insider. That means 12 days of giveaways, from loot codes to gaming mice to decor and apparel. Whether you've been a good goblin or a naughty night elf, there's a chance that WoW Insider has a holiday gift for you this season.

Who wants more loot? Well, the answer to that is obvious: You do. Today from WootLoots.com, we have four Purple Puffer pets to add to your collection.

To enter for a chance to win, leave a comment on this post before 11:59 p.m. ET, Thursday, Dec. 29, 2011. You can only enter once. We will choose four winners at random. Make sure the email address you use to post entry comments here is one that you check regularly, because that's how we'll contact our winners. Because this is a purely digital item, readers of all regions may enter for a chance to win.

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Every week, WoW Insider brings you Gold Capped, in which Basil "Euripides" Berntsen and Fox Van Allen aim to show you how to make money on the Auction House. Check out Fox and Basil's reboot of Call To Auction, and Email Basil with your questions, comments, or hate mail!

Winter Veil is probably one of the most profitable game holidays. There are lots of achievements and quests people do, and some of these involve acquiring things that can be sold on the Auction House. The most interesting thing is that none of the things people will be needing require a maximum-level character to get and are, in fact, farmable by just about anyone over level 6 or so.

Small Eggs

Let's start with Small Eggs. Five of these are used to make the five Gingerbread Cookies required for the holiday quest Treats for Greatfather Winter. Small eggs are easily farmed, but the demand for them between Dec. 15 and Jan. 2 is more than can reasonably be farmed by any one person. People in the know have been preparing since last year and have stockpiled these eggs.

That said, the bulk needed to meet the demand generated by just about every single active player doing this quest on all their characters is pretty high, and these eggs don't come up on the Auction House that often for cheap. For the next few days until demand drops off a bit, people will buy these for between 2g and 5g, and if you have a character capable of killing level 6 monsters, you can farm hundreds an hour in Eversong Woods outside Silvermoon.

The WoW Insider Weekly News Update is your source for all the biggest stories from the past week wrapped up in a neat little video package. Mathew McCurley hosts your quick look at this week's biggest news.

If you haven't already subscribed to the WoW Insider YouTube channel, you should!

This week's top stories include:

• Blizzard announces Battle.net Balance.
• Blizzard also announces Battle.net BattleTags.
• Winter Veil is here.
• Blizzard reclassified items for Dragon Soul's Raid Finder difficulty.

Win a Nightsaber Cub loot card from WoWTCGLoot! Here's how to enter: Subscribe to the WoW Insider YouTube channel and comment on the video over on YouTube for a chance to win! We'll contact our winner via YouTube on Friday, Dec. 23.

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Deck the non-religious halls with joy that is totally unrelated to this guy who may or may not have been the savior, depending on your own personal beliefs that we all totally respect. It's time for Winter Veil!

The Feast of Winter Veil is a two-and-a-half-week-long, pine-scented, in-game holiday consisting of dwarves, off-brand orc Santas, and unappealing spiced cookies. And who could forget all the gift-giving, murder, comic mischief, getting this close to regionals, and ... please tell me they're not going to make us go back to Outland again. No, seriously. Please. There are space ghosts there.

But enough about the sheer terror of being haunted by the specters of the dead and feeling their cold essences devour your soul -- this is Winter Veil holiday! So what are your plans for the holiday? Are you going to be saving Metzen the Reindeer this year? Or are you going to be all Scrooge-like and let this holiday pass you by?

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Working on achievements? The Overachiever is here to help! Count on us for advice on Azeroth's holidays and special events, including new achievements, how to get 310% flight speed with achievement mounts, and Cataclysm reputation factions and achievements.

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Winter Veil 2011 runs from Thursday, Dec. 15 through Monday, Jan. 2 this year. As with most of the WoW holidays, the Merrymaker meta is required for What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been. Those of you who are still on the lookout for your Violet Proto-Drakes (and free 310% flying) will want to keep an eye out for any achievements you still need.

Even if you don't want or don't need any achievements this year, Winter Veil will also give you the opportunity to turn your mount into a reindeer, become a snowman with a unique dance animation, and get noncombat pets and unique holiday items. Interestingly, it looks like the Winter Veil pets no longer require snowballs to summon, which is cool, although they're not going to stick around if the holiday's not on. Seriously, go try pulling out your Father Winter's Helper and see what it does. I'll wait.

There's also a new pet as of 2011 and a sorta-new (well, not really) holiday boss. As always, I'll be up as the holiday goes live to make necessary additions or corrections to the guide.

Twink Info, a depository of great information and blogs for twinking out your characters at any level, is giving away some great prizes this season including a 7-inch touchscreen tablet. All you have to do to enter into the drawing is create an account for Twink Info's forums and post a minimum of 15 times before the new year. Learn about twinking out a new alt, how to survive in the Battleground brackets, the best transmog sets for your level, and more, while being entered in a cool competition.

Read all about the contest over on Twink Info, and then enter the contest.

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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.

The Feast of Winter Veil ends today at midnight server time. So you have just a few hours left to get a Little Helper from your Friends or Bros. Before Ho Ho Hos or any of the rest of the huge list of achievements you can get during this holiday. We dressed up as gnomish helpers on Friday night to have some some last-minute PvP fun in miniature, but for the most part, we didn't see too many others getting the achievement along with us.

Usually, if you wait until the last day, anything you need cooperation for is hard to get as most people get their achievements done early on. But sometimes, it's easier if you are all fighting for the same greench. What has been your experience?

Winter Veil 2010 runs from Wednesday, Dec. 15 through Sunday, Jan. 2 this year. Unlike November's holiday, Pilgrim's Bounty, the Merrymaker meta is required for What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been. If you've already got a Violet Proto-Drake or just don't care about the meta, Winter Veil will also give you the opportunity to turn your mount into a reindeer, become a snowman with a unique dance animation, and get noncombat pets and snowballs. Of course, if Santa RNG thinks you've been bad, you'll just wind up with Coal.

Though not always. Keep at it! Even Santa RNG has a heart.

Past the cut, I've revised and expanded our 2009 guide for anyone looking to complete the meta (and earn the title) Merrymaker. Cataclysm has almost certainly affected how you'll do this holiday, but unfortunately, there's no hard information yet as to how. I doubt that Blizzard had the time to tinker extensively with Winter Veil in the crush of work surrounding a new expansion, but we'll see. As always, I'll be around as the holiday goes live to check and update the article. For the moment, I've included some commonsense speculation on likely changes (such as when an NPC's probably changed locations due to city/topography upheaval).