Results tagged “Holiday” from From the Abbey to Outlands

I will beg your forgiveness in this, but this will be a post meant for both listeners of All Things Azeroth, my podcast, and From the Abbey to Outlands, my blog. I want to wish you, one and all, a great holiday. Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzea, or if your greatest celebration this holiday season is the Feast of Winter Veil, I hope you have a truly amazing, friend and loved ones filled holiday season.

While Greatfather Winter has brought presents for us all, and the Achievement spam is at an all time high, we might begin to lose patience at the constant crashing of rocket cars, but remember, that this is a time of love and peace, and we should all take a few times before we gank our neighbor, to remember this is when we should spare that killing blow, and let our enemies bow in safety and go on their way. Take care of yourselves, /love your neighbor, and spread /cheer throughout the world(of warcraft)!

Hallow's End is long in the past.
The Wrath Day glow just didn't last.
We travel North to continue our tale.
As closer comes the feast of Winter'Veil!

With all that has happened in this game in the last few weeks, it can be forgiven that we might have lost track, forgotten the upcoming holiday. While Winter's Veil has lost some luster as compared to the events with seasonal bosses like Hallow's End, Midsummer, and Brewfest, I still think that Winter's Veil is one of the most exciting times. The cities of Orgrimmar and Ironforge get decked out in lights, and Greatfather Winter sets up in his rightful place on his seat. Holly is passed around and gifts are given. I still recall fondly my first Winter's Veil, when people were desperately trying to figure out where to get their Greench's from, how you became a helper gnome elf, or how you learned to make your very own Snowmaster.

While a part of me hopes Blizzard adds a bit more to this year's event, I chuckle a bit to myself as I notice that a number of my alts still have unopened presents in their bags at this late date, and I know Blizz has more in store for us. We know the Clockwork Rocket Bot was available last year, while a new Achievement this year, Crashin' Thrashin' Racer tells us that we likely have Crashin' Thrashin' Racer Controller coming to us this year. Arita already has one due to an unopened present from '07, and I have to say it looks awesome! What are you looking forward to most from this year's Festival?

Well, it's November 2nd, and that means that while it seems the Scourge Invasion is still in progress, the Hallow's End festival is now done for another year. How close are you to your particular faction's Hallowed by Thy Name meta achievement for a wicked 'The Hallowed' title? Don't forget, 3.0.3 will bring a change to that particular meta to remove the Mask For All Occasions achievement from the current live version of the meta. Me? I got no new helms for my toons. I still have no Sinister Squashling, though I will admit I did not summon the Horseman as much as I could, only doing about 30 or so summons between all my toons.

I wish Blizzard would make them more plentiful, as well as the new item The Horseman's Reins, but I think they best we are going to get is that the Squashling and Helm now come in the treat bags. I did get The Horseman's Helm on Telaan, making it 2/2 on my plate wearers, and Ameland got the new The Horseman's Blade, which looks awesome and has a nice Greater Agility enchant. I have about 150 Weighted Jack-o'-Lantern stored away on my mule, and those will be used to get my Death Knight the Check Your Head achievement and the rest will go on the AH around the end of Novemeber so all the other Death Knights can get their heads checked on time.

Lastly we have a little reminder. As it is the beginning of November, it's time to run out to Nagrand, to Aeris Landing, and grab your free container of gems, also known as Membership Benefits, if you are friendly or better. If you have no rep, I would hold off until the end of the month, since rep for these beings is faily easy to grind and honored is not that hard to get. The item you get is based on your rep at the time you complete the quest, I beleive, so it is always better to hold off and see what you can hit by month's end.

Today is Thanksgiving up here in Canada, so I thought that, while I could give you pre patch overload, the fan sites are filling that role quite nicely. Instead I will be giving you my top 5 things I am thankful for in WoW, with maybe some dessert. This one will be a countdown, cause I wanna save the best for last, like any treat should.

5. Game time - I am overjoyed that, through hard work and good friends, I have been able to play WoW almost uninterrupted for over four years now. I am happy that I can continue playing, exploring, experiencing, and marveling at the wonder that is...
4. The Art - WoW has, honestly, some of the best art in the many games I have played. It has a perfect mix of the cartoonish and the amazing. There are vistas and landscapes in the game, live and beta, that to this day keep me in awe of the awesome talent in the Blizzard art department. The art, in fact, is only second to...
3. The Lore - For all the flaws that became clear in the lead up to Burning Crusade, Chris Metzen and his department at Blizzard have continued to put out the most amazing lore, stories that capture the imagination, and help make the came infinitely more captivating than any non Blizzard story in my long history in computers.
2. The Fans - Between this blog, and my podcast, I think I am one of the luckiest guys in WoW new media. Of course I am likely the only one to think this, but let me just run with this. I know a lot of my fans by name. I hear their thoughts on the blog, get their insights in email, and their idea shape the podcast and blog in ways I could have never imagined. If my fans weren't here, if they didn't keep my spirits high in times of stress and apathy, I wouldn't still be blogging, and the podcast would have faded into a 404 page months ago.
1. Friends & Family - While my Real Life family are great, the family I talk about are those who carry the tag of <Shadow Walkers> proudly. As recruitment officer, I have had the privilege of helping many people work their way through the process from application to full membership, and every time I have the honor of promoting an Initiate to Member, I am overjoyed to do so. I cannot think of a better group of people with who I would like to have spent the last 3 years and then some gaming, joking, traveling, questing, raiding, and enjoying the company of. /tar Shadow Walkers /salute
   

There you have it, folks, the 5 things I am most thankful for. Oh, sure, there's bosses and badges, gold and gear, but in the end, these are the things I am thankful for. Some of the other things I am thankful for are:

• Health - So far, other than a few problems, I am overall fairly healthy.
• Love - I have an amazing woman who I love more deeply than words can explain
• Photography - My photography is one of my most treasured expressions of my creativity
  

Happy Thanksgiving to Canadians, and in the future Americans, and may the rest of the year treat you well. Cheers!

As you likely know by now, Brewfest, the Oktoberfest of World of Warcraft, and the holiday has a fair number of new things that weren't around in 2007. First off, the new holiday boss. Coren Direbrew can be found, when you have the quest at 70, in the Grim Guzzler in Blackrock Depths. He is a fairly hard fight, with different phases. Much like the Lord Ahune fight at midsummer, there are things that pop up out of the ground to knock you in the air, there are adds that make things difficult, and of course awesome loot.

At the last minute Blizzard announced they will allow all races to get both the Kodo and Ram mounts, though they will now be dropped by Coren, not purchased for tokens. While Kisirani just a day before had adamantly argued in this lengthy thread that they would not be allowing Alliance to get Kodos, we did find out due to this post that Blizzard had hotfixed the two mounts into Coren's loot table and all races would be able to win the mounts.

To get to Coren,you pick up a quest in Kharanos, Dun Morogh, though some requisites might be needed, then you head to the Blackrock Depths. When inside the instance, you kill off the level 70 Dark Irons, then use the controller to travel through the Depths to the Grim Guzzler. That's right, no need to clear the way. Once there, you talk to the dwarven spy, admire some demonic tail, and when you are all ready, you go and toss a few 'Yo Mama's at Coren, causing him to attack.

My advice is this: Run away when he disarms, have a healthstone ready, and burn him down as fast as you possibly can. There will be stuns, throws, and adds, and all of those will be dealt with in the proper times, but the big thing is to get him down as fast as you can. The loot is decent, though there is no known pet that he drops. He does have two trinkets that summon mobs to help you, but those are not vanity pets. Our group had 4 summons and killed him twice, which got me Empty Mug of Direbrew on Telaan. Enjoy Brewfest, and be sure to act responsibly and to not drink and ride!