Project Lore

If you were paying attention to the new guild calendar that was added with patch 3.0.2 you should have noticed that Hallow's End started this Saturday.  This year's Hallow's End will keep players busier than usual, thanks to another Echoes of Doom addition, Achievements.  The latest patch added the first group of Achievements to the game, 21 of which are focused on my favorite of the seasonal holidays (even in real life).  Unfortunately for us, it is not 21 unique quests, as a few of them are Horde/Alliance mirrors of each other. For those out to get the easy Achievements, Hallow's End has a few of those to offer.

• The Mask Task – Grab one of the 20 masks available and put it on.  Cake.
• Check Your Head – Grab the [Weighted Jack-o'-Lanterns] and throw them at all the races.  This is obviously easiest if you do it in Shattrath City or a Battleground.  Oh, but be sure they don't already have the buff, or you won't get credit.

Then you can go completely the other way, and be out to get those difficult Achievements that the system is really all about.

• Tricks and Treats of Azeroth – This is a travel heavy quest that sends you all over Azeroth, including an expedition to Outlands.  Think of it as Children's Week...on steroids.  The good thing is that if you complete this, that means you completed three other Achievements, Tricks and Treats of Eastern Kingdoms/Kalimdor and Outlands.
• A Mask for All Occasions – Well, a quest based on random drops is never fun.  This is topped off by the fact that you have to collect all 20 masks.  You will basically have to farm the Innkeepers each hour for their [Treat Bag] if you want this Achievement.
• Sinister Calling – Sinister Calling is perhaps the most sought after Achievement without people even knowing it.  The object is to snag a [Sinister Squashling] and a [Hallowed Helm], two items that players have been farming since they were added to the Headless Horseman's loot table.  This is another Achievement that if managed, will score you additional bragging rights, the Bring Me The Head of... Oh Wait Achievement.
• Hallowed Be Thy Name - For only the truly insane.  You basically complete all the the Hallow's End Achievements for this and it scores you the title of The Hallowed.  Completing this is also part of the all Seasonal Achievement, What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been.

My personal favorite Achievement, and the only one I actually care about, is rather easy (and will also score me the  Bring Me The Head of... Oh Wait Achievement), Out With It.  Out With It is based on the age-old adage that if you eat too much candy, your stomach will get upset.  Easily achieved by winning the common drop for the Headless Horseman, Tricky Treats.  Then just eat them until you get the Upset Tummy debuff.  Why do I like it?  Why, because it is funny, that is why. As my gamerscore for my Xbox 360 shows, I have never really cared about Achievements, but Blizzard is making them creative, difficult, or interesting enough to force me to strive for some of them.  If only they actually benefited you characters in some way... For more information on all of the Hallow's End Achievements, head over to the Hallow's End page on WoWWiki.

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Juggynaut was one of those lucky players to see a Brewfest mount drop during the seasonal event.  Sadly, Juggy was not lucky enough to win, rolling an amazing 30.  On the last possible run of the event, started at 11:59PM server time, Juggynaut's squad was once again met with a trinket drop.  So long to Brewfest for another year.  But don't worry folks, like in the real world, the citizens of Azeroth have plenty of holidays coming in the next few months.

• Hallow's End (October 18th – November 1st) – Blizzard's take on the North American holiday of Halloween.  Event includes the Headless Horsemen, Bobbing for Apples, Innkeepers handing out Tricks or Treats and more.
• Feast of Winter Veil (December 15th – January 2nd) – Celebration of various religious holidays although primarily focuses on the idea of Santa Claus and gift giving.  The event allows all players to receive free loot from the main cities, kissing under Mistletoe and the always annoying fun, snowballs.
• New Year (December 31st – January 1st) – This one should be fairly obvious, the celebration of the new year by the Gregorian calendar.  This event doesn't have too much to do but does have fireworks at Stormwind, Thunder Bluff, and Booty Bay.

Those three events, which are subject to change before they go live, round out the end of another year for World of Warcraft.  In mid-February we have Love is in the Air, commonly known in our realm as Valentine's Day.  Then we hit a bit of a dry spell until Noblegarden, an event that is timed with Easter's revolving celebration. Blizzard managed to find time to add two brand new calendar events this year.  The first addition, Spirit of Competition for the Olympic Games, promoted many strict PvEers to PvP for the first time in ages.  The second was to highlight the made-up holiday known as International Talk like a Pirate Day, which Azerothians know simply as Pirate's Day. Brewfest has become my favorite holiday due to Blizzard's addition of Coren Direbew in Black Rock Depths.  Mainly, I love the fact that Blizzard took the time out not only to add another boss with good loot, but to add it to old content.  It wouldn't be that hard for them to continue the trend lore-wise. Have Greatfather Winter be late to his event because he is held captive by Troggs in Gnomeregan and Ragefire Chasm and needs to be rescued.  The Fireworks shipment can be stolen for the New Year celebration and kept in Uldaman.  Why Uldaman you ask?  Simple, because everyone hates Dark Iron Dwarves. I don't expect Blizzard to go nuts on seasonal content, but I am sure they could give some developers a break from the norm to flesh out one seasonal event per year.  How did you guys do on your mount drops and what is your favorite seasonal event? Oh, and one more event I should mention.  Wrath of the Lich King goes live Novemeber 13th.

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