Project Lore

Protip is short video series with various tips and guides. Leave a comment to let me know what you want to see in future segments. Follow @Heartbourne or subscribe in iTunes for notifications of new videos!

On this Protip, we fight and defeat Omen to get the Elune's Blessing achievement.

I'm usually a gung-ho fan of world events. Since hitting 80 on my main in September, I've plunged myself head-first into every event in the quest to complete What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been and earning that coveted Violet Proto-Drake. And since it's my first time doing most of the event-related achievements, they've been intriguing enough to hold my interest.

But over the course of February, something changed and withered away at my enthusiasm for world events. I blame the latest combination of Love is in the Air butted up and overlapped with the Lunar Festival.

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Protip is short video series with various tips and guides. Leave a comment to let me know what you want to see in future segments. Follow @Heartbourne or subscribe in iTunes for notifications of new videos!

Its time for the lunar festival! Learn where to get started and what its all about.

Azeroth's "Season of Love" comes to a close at 11:59 Pacific Time this evening. Considering the coming events, it's amazing we'll see one at all this month next year.

After much frustration with Love Is In The Air in the past, and having my account hacked just a few days before the festivities began, I was initially fretful that I wouldn't get to participate much at all. But much to my surprise, it went smoothly, and I completed all essential meta-achievements except for "I Pitied The Fool" on the first day of my return.

Once I obtained that, and thus, my Violet Proto-Drake, I stopped collecting charms and tokens altogether, leaving several of my other achievements dangling in the wind. But today, on the last day of the event, I decided to pick myself up, turn in all those charms I got from running Icecrown Citadel the past week, and make the most of what was left. Following the jump is a short list of things you can do with the time remaining:

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Nothing says "I love you" like getting shot by a dude with giant eyes and razor-sharp teeth.

Let's start this off with the most pressing matter, Love is in the Air.  Blizzard's take on Valentine's Day kicked off early wednesday morning aside an amusing bug.  I am sure those that logged in saw the server wide message that the "Ice Stone has melted."  The erroneous message stems from last year's Midsummer Fire Festival and the encounter with Lord Ahune.  The kicker is that Blizzard had no idea what was causing it, or how it slipped into 3.0.9.  It has taken Blizzard's superstar team over a day to track down the root of the problem, which will require a realm restart later today.  At least Kisirani had some fun with the flooding of Azeroth. For those of you looking to participate in the Love is in the Air seasonal, you best take a look at WoWHead's excellent guide.  If you are one of the hardcore achievers out there, then you are hopefully well on your way with Fool for Love for the meta-meta achievement, What a Long, Strange Trip Its Been. It is also worth a mentioning that the Lunar Festival commenced earlier this week. Unlike previous seasonal events, this is one that doesn't interest me, much.  Despite my general lack of excitement, the bastards at Blizzard made it pretty difficult for me to ignore the event entirely, due to the addition of an amusing non-combat pet.  I love those little useless distractions.  To obtain the pet, players are required to get jiggy with guards and/or NPCs of their factions for Gifts of Adoration.  If you are incredibly lucky, than a Truesilver Shafted Arrow will be found in there, otherwise you must wait an hour to try again.  I'll be going after gifts as often as possible, but I will leave the achievement grinding to Juggynaut.

Aww, he's so tough.

On the news front, the PvPers out there are probably ecstatic to hear that the World of Warcraft Arena Tournament will be returning for its second run.  The 2009 season has been updated to include Wrath's changes, pre-made level 80 characters, a prize pool of $200,000 and even in-game objects usable on the live realms like the “Vanquisher” title and this cute Murloc pet.  God, are they trying to make me fail at PvP on a global scale? Any one a Fool for Love yet?  Remember folks, the V-day event closes on Monday, so get a move on.  I am 0 for 5 in my endeavor for Kwee Q. Peddlefeet.  Any readers gonna sign-up for the Arena Tournament on the 17th?

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While love might be a little bit of a strong word, I can at least say that I heartily embrace the achievement system that was introduced to World of Warcraft back in patch 3.0. My enjoyment of what amounts to a small pop up and a few more points is probably evident by anyone who has looked at my WoW Armory Page or had a glimpse of Executus' page on WoW-Achievements (where, btw, I am in the top 20 on the server... no biggie, I'm just sayin'). Contrary to what many people will tell you, I don't complete achievements to inflate my online ego (that's what WoW-Heroes is for). A lot of the rewards I've been granted by achievements are sitting in my bank, and many of the titles have graced the space above my character's head for just a few seconds before they were replaced with my old favorites - namely Loremaster, the Seeker, or, most recently, the Undying. No, I complete the achievements for completion's sake. WoW has a lot to offer players, and I want to see as much of it as I can. I've completed nearly every quest in the game on the Alliance side (and a bunch on the Horde side, too). I know the monotony of grinding Timbermaw Hold rep. I know the exhilaration of the last 30% of Kel'Thuzad on an Undying run. I know where to find all of the Elders for the Lunar Festival, and I've opened every single red envelope that they sent me. With Love is in the Air coming up this week, I have a short window to get a little closer to that 310% speed Violet Proto Drake. I don't know about you, but I'll be following WoW Insider's Fool for Love Guide until that golden window comes up. Maybe longer. I didn't used to be like this before the achievements were introduced, so part of it might be an obsessive compulsion in me to see those pop ups and hear the distinct sound they make. I know plenty of people who don't want to go around /loving and killing critters, people who only like achievements that take "skill," and people who will only do the achievements that have rewards. I can see where all of them are coming from. People play WoW for a million different reasons. I'm not an AH junkie or an arena fiend, I'm an achievement whore. It's just what I do. Do you complete achievments, or do you just not care?

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It’s one of my favorite times of the year again, holiday time in Azeroth! This means one thing for me, tons of new achievements to do. I have just started them myself, but looking over the list it seems to me that this event is going to bring out some of the best and worst in WoW achievements. Many of them seem awesomely exciting, while even more of them seem mind numbingly boring.

Let me start with the good. The achievement to honor the elders in the opposing factions cities is great. It encourages world PvP, gives you a reason to go some places you rarely go, and gives you the impression of a really fun adventure. I am glad blizzard included this, and I am looking forward to charging into Orgrimmar. I think I may be even more excited to rack up my city defender by killing Horde trying to do the same.

Now the not so good… just about everything else. Sure seasonal bosses are cool, fireworks are cool, but I really don’t like feeling like I have to wander all over the old world finding random guys in random zones, and not even getting any gold for my time. I’ve wandered around these places plenty before, first to get explorer, then to trick or treat during Hallow’s End, now I’m back at it. In my eyes this is little more than a time sink.

I can’t say I’m particularly fond of having to run through a bunch of lowbie instances either. Sure doing some of the more current content is fun, but do I really need to go do ZF of Stratholme again (especially now that I’ve got my Baron Mount)?

My one piece of advice as you embark on this incredibly dull task would be to look at your other achievements and see if you can knock anything out at the same time. Are there  squirrels that need lovin’, pests that need controlin’, or zones that need explorin'? Now is the time to do them. If you have to do something boring you might as well kill two birds with one stone.

Just keep reminding yourself, this is all for the Violet Proto-Drake.

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