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A desire for more holidays and other events
Once upon a time, World of Warcraft's holiday events were one of my favorite parts of the game. Not only did they make the game world feel alive, they changed the standard day-to-day gameplay routine. When those events went live, I didn't even consider spending my time doing the same daily hubs, reputation grinds, or dungeons I'd been doing all along. There were new quests, light-hearted quests, and the holiday bosses asked me to revisit dungeons I may not have run in ages. I didn't even care much for the loot dropped by those bosses, I just liked seeing and fighting them. Before those bosses became something in the dungeon finder, I ran them as much as I could, just because I knew they'd be gone for a year afterwards. The rewards from quests, even when they were light-hearted items that didn't contribute to a character's power level whatsoever, were fun little short-term goals. Unfortunately, these events long ago fell to the wayside, receiving few updates beyond increasing the item level of gear drops from bosses. Patch 5.4 introduced a pandaren brewmaster to Brewfest, Love is in the Air's last update was the addition of the Swift Lovebird in patch 4.3.2, but generally speaking, ilevel increases have been the majority of the changes. The focus has been on the Darkmoon Faire more than anything else, which has, itself, become part of the routine. It's understandable that these events have fallen out of production, it's difficult to justify creating temporary content over something more permanent, but I do miss the temporary, fleeting content. More than updates to old events, I'd love to see new events, holidays pulling from Azerothian culture rather than our own, or even events on a smaller scale. Let's kick around some ideas, shall we?
Reminder: It came from the Blog's Love Zeppelin party is tomorrow
Tomorrow morningish a few of WoW Insider's writers will be joining the It came from the Blog annual party on the Love Zeppelin. When: Tomorrow, Saturday, Feb. 22 at noon EST (9 a.m. PST, 11 a.m. server time) Where: Meet near the flightpath in Orgrimmar on Zangarmarsh/Hellscream (US-PvE-H) Who: Any level Horde player How: Ask Tizzi or any member of It came from the Blog for an invite There will be dancing, party games, and love. You'll also have the chance to ask questions from some of our staff. Join us! Please join us on Zangarmarsh/Hellscream (US-PvE-H) in It came from the Blog. All guild ranks can invite, so /whisper Tizzi 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.
It came from the Blog: Join us for a party on the Love Zeppelin
Love is in the air, but I've got good news and bad news. The bad news is that this holiday does not lend itself to group activities where the group is multiple levels. The good news is that It came from the Blog is going to be having a party anyway: our second annual party on the Love Zeppelin. When: Saturday, Feb. 22 at noon EST (9 a.m. PST, 11 a.m. server time) Where: Meet near the flightpath in Orgrimmar on Zangarmarsh/Hellscream (US-PvE-H) Who: Any level Horde player, clothing optional How: Ask any member of It came from the Blog for an invite What: Fun, dancing, party games, love We won't be having a raid for this event, so any level character can join us. We hope to see you there! Updated: Some of the WoW Insider writers will be joining us, so you can ask them questions and otherwise rub virtual elbows with them. Please join us on Zangarmarsh/Hellscream (US-PvE-H) in It came from the Blog. All guild ranks can invite, so /whisper Tizzi 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.
WoW Moviewatch: Azeroth News Network: Love Is In The Air Special
The Azeroth News Network: Love Is In The Air Special by Slightly Impressive spells out the inconsistencies and oddities involved in this February holiday. While the video is a tiny bit late for the real life Valentine's Day, there's still plenty of comedic value left for it in Azeroth. I've always wondered if it made me a creeper, sitting lonely in Dalaran and desperately begging strangers to have a picnic. But, hey, it's just an achievement. What's love got to do with it? Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
What have you done because of WoW?
World of Warcraft, by its nature, is a very social game -- you have to group up and work with other players to accomplish many in-game goals. Maybe you play WoW with your friends or maybe you've made friends through playing it. Plenty of players know each other or meet each other in real life -- some have even met their future spouses in WoW. With that in mind, Valentine's Day -- or, if you'd rather, Love Is in the Air -- is a great time to visit Because of WoW. The website collects photos and tweets with the #BeacauseOfWoW hashtag, compiling them into one grand story of community connections. So why not take today to join in on the lovefest and tweet about the friends and connections you've made because of WoW?
Breakfast Topic: Your holiday frustrations
Love Is in the Air once again, which means -- you guessed it -- crowds of people in a rush to complete their holiday quests and achievements before time runs out. I'm a fan of holidays for a change of pace, but the crowds -- especially on day one or two -- can be tremendously frustrating... especially when you've got twenty people standing on top of your quest-giver. Argh! So, readers, let's talk holidays: what are your holiday frustrations... and, better yet, what are your frustration workarounds? The frustrated among us really, really want to know.
Love is in the air starts today
Love is in the air, everywhere I look around... And it's certainly kicking off in all the major capital cities of Azeroth and Outland today. If you want a Peddlefeet pet or to kick Apothecary Hummel and his cronies out of Shadowfang Keep yet again, now's the time. Love is in the air 2014 runs from February 10 to February 24. The official Blizzard post makes no mention of any updates for 2014, so as far as we can tell no additional love has been added to this holiday. We can confirm that the drops have not been upgraded and are still ilvl 480. That being the case, burgeoning lovers can check out 2013's Overachiever guide to all the achievements, pets, items and more that the holiday brings to players. And if you want to get your love on in the real world, check out this weekend's guide to making heart-shaped candy! This is another of those fun holidays that sends you off a'hunting for the race-class combinations that elude the average player in order to shower them with rose petals for Fistful of Love. If you're one of the rarer race-class combinations, you can often peddle your services by agreeing to be showered with rose petals outside a faction capital. It's a tough job, but someone's got to do it. But the most important thing, in my book, is to kill the three apothecaries on every character, every day, just for a chance at the Big Love Rocket from the heart-shaped box the bosses drop. I've got 14 90s. This year it's mine.
Well Fed Buff: Love is in the Air Heart Candy
That bell-like sound? That sweet scent wafting through the air? Ah, that's love. Love is in the Air means it's time to slip that special someone a strategic Heart Candy. It's the thought the counts; nobody can deny that Heart Candies are probably not the tastiest treats in Azeroth. Good thing nobody actually eats them! (You don't, do you?!) You can pop as many as you like in real life if you whip up a batch here on Earth instead of in Azeroth. Like love itself, the recipe for Love is in the Air Heart Candy is simple yet demanding; you'll knead your heart out for this one. We've also got two tastier and quite romantic treats to share with you today: the delectable Dark Desire and those irresistible Tauren Toenails. Mmmm, chocolate!
Pet battlers, it isn't too late to get your hands on Peddlefeet
In the world of pet battles, there are two humanoid pets that reign supreme: the Pandaren Monk and the Flayer Youngling. There are competitors to the throne, but the monk and the flayer are your go-to dragonkin slayers in PvE pet battles. One of the two requires a purchase from the Blizzard Store, and while the other is a perfectly valid option, there's beauty in diversity. Why not be different? Why not break social norms and embrace the diversity inherent to the universe? Why not Peddlefeet? Peddlefeet can be added to your pet journal by using a Truesilver Shafted Arrow, purchased for 40 Love Tokens at Lovely Merchants in capital cities across Azeroth. This item is only sold during Love is in the Air celebrations, which end February 23. You still have most of this week to pick up those 40 tokens, and it's just about the easiest thing in the world. You can either do Love is in the Air daily quests or murder hapless mobs (which award experience) for Lovely Charms, which can then be exchanged for Love Tokens. You have plenty of time. Do it! Peddlefeet's dragonslaying abilities are as follows:
Reminder: It came from the Blog's Love-in is tomorrow
This is a call to action! It came from the Blog is staging a peaceful protest tomorrow. We want booze sold in the Undercity, and we want it now! We'll be starting at the top, and then moving our protest from there. Because love is in the air, our form of protest will be a Love-in. So it will not only be peaceful, it will be groovy. When: Tomorrow, Saturday, Feb. 16 at Noon EST (9 a.m. PST, 10 a.m. server time) Where: Meet in front of Grommash Hold in Orgrimmar on Zangarmarsh (US-PvE-H) Who: Any Horde player level 10 or above How: Ask Tizzi or any It came from the Blog member for an invite, if you aren't already in our family of guilds If you are joining us (and all are welcome), please wear something alluring, bring something alcoholic and behave something groovy, man. Alliance are encouraged to protest with us! Just roll a Horde character (10 or above) and show us how it's done. After all, your dwarves would never allow a dry city in your faction. Or wait, does the Exodar sell libations? They're so full of light and boringness there -- which is why it should be a disco. Anyway, join us for peace, love and virtual drinking tomorrow! Please join us on Zangarmarsh (US-PvE-H) in It came from the Blog. Guild ranks of Blog Lurker or above can invite, so /whisper Robiness 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.
It came from the Blog: Join us for a Love-in
We at It came from the Blog want to hold a protest -- the best kind of protest there is: a Love-in. For those of you who aren't hip to the 60's lingo, a Love-in is just a particularly groovy Sit-in. The protesters hang out in a public place and protest peacefully, but the theme is love, since love is in the air, as you know. What will we be protesting? You can't buy alcohol in the Undercity. Seriously, how is that even legal? When: Saturday, Feb. 16 at Noon EST (9 a.m. PST, 10 a.m. server time) Where: Meet in front of Grommash Hold in Orgrimmar on Zangarmarsh (US-PvE-H) Who: Any Horde player level 10 or above How: Ask Tizzi or any It came from the Blog member for an invite, if you aren't already in our family of guilds Tizzi will be providing transportation as needed via mage port, which is why you need to be at least level 10 so that you can join the raid. Anyone is welcome to join us and support the cause. If you're Alliance, please make a character just to help out. We appreciate all the support we can get. So join us for our very first Love-in. Just make sure to wear something alluring, and bring booze. Please join us on Zangarmarsh (US-PvE-H) in It came from the Blog. All guild ranks can invite, so /whisper Tizzi 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.
Guide to Love is in the Air 2013
Love is in the Air returns this year from Sunday, Feb. 10 through Saturday, Feb. 23. As always, check your game calendar for your server's specific start and end times. After many tweaks over the years, the holiday's become one of the less annoying and RNG-riddled outings from the What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been meta. However, last year's version added a pretty grind-intensive mount to the holiday rewards, so if you're starting fresh and want the meta and the mount, be prepared for a lot of work. Before you ask -- yep, it's required if you're still on the warpath for your Violet Proto-Drake. The finished holiday meta will also reward the title the Love Fool. If you're completely new to Love Is In the Air, you'll probably want to read our FAQ on the holiday. Otherwise, we'll be dealing with the holiday achievements here. There are only two optional ones if you're going for the meta, so I've listed all the ones you'll need first.
Breakfast Topic: What's your favorite in-game holiday?
I love Halloween. I am a big fan of the spooky, the creepy, the gloomy, dark and dank. It enthralls me, it's mysterious, it's fun! I'm talking real life here, now, not candy buckets in cities. I'm not a huge fan of the in-game Halloween, it seems too jokey, too trick-or treat and candy-focused, missing the scary side. But, having said that, I do like the Headless Horseman. He, well, his head is very entertaining, with its constant issues with his disappearing body and horse. I also like Love is in the Air and Noblegarden, they're wonderfully corny and cute, with the bunny ears and the lovebirds. Winter Veil isn't bad either, but perhaps that's because I have a child-like love for Christmas. But my favorite in-game holiday by a long shot is Brewfest. I really like the music, for a while at least. With my habit of alt-tabbing to work while leaving the game running, leaving a character standing in a Brewfest zone for long periods of time is annoying at best! The games are really fun, and the in-game drunkenness does bring a smile. If Coren Direbrew was as entertaining as the Horseman, and the rewards were as fun as the Lovebird or the Picnic Basket, this could be a perfect holiday! What about you? Which in-game holiday tickles your fancy, and are there any that you despise?
Breakfast Topic: Why I hate holidays
There are two reasons why I hate holiday events in World of Warcraft: Rather than a heart, I possess a shriveled black acorn of hate ripped from the oakbread tree, steeped in the corrupted blood of the deep wound of the earth, and finally implanted in my chest after my original heart was consumed by the venom of the Emerald Agony, rarest and most deadly of the agony serpents. There is no way you can convince me that running around trying to pick up eggs before anyone else gets to them while hissing expletives at the screen is anything like a good time. Seriously, I just don't get holidays in game. I get that other people like them, and I'm not campaigning for their removal or anything. But there has yet to be a holiday introduced in the history of World of Warcraft that's done more than gotten me to say all right, I'll run that for you. I don't enjoy holidays; I tolerate them. Every year when Children's Week rolls around, I gulp knowing I'm going to be forced to try and get School of Hard Knocks so that other people can get a mount. When Noblegarden rolled around this year, I just rolled a lady dwarf death knight so that my guildmates could throw ears on it primarily because I was tired of hearing people talk about how hard they are to find. I guess what really bugs me about all these holidays and holiday achievements is that no one seems to enjoy them. They go nuts grinding for a new mount or pet, yeah, but I just don't get a happy vibe when I ask people about them. Instead, I get a grim litany of how many more necklaces or chocolates or whatever they have to get through. I could just be missing the joy, I suppose. I'm very good at that. Do you like holidays? If so, why? If not, congratulations on agreeing with me. Also, why not? 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.
A priest's guide to class romance
It's a troubling yet underpublicized fact that four out of five shadow priests respecced shadow for the first time after experiencing a romantic break-up. Recent studies show that priests are 63% more likely to respec shadow within 72 hours of a break-up, while a separate poll found that 78% of healing priests had seriously considered respeccing to shadow after having an argument with their spouse or significant other. To the tenderhearted healing priest, shadow probably seems like a quick way to steel yourself and mend a broken heart; unfortunately, too few priests realize the two points they're putting into Masochism 'til they're staring down into an empty bottle of Volcanic Potion and wishing they could do the same DPS as a warlock. The simple way to avoid all these drastic courses of action is, of course, to skip getting your heart broken in the first place. Easier said than done, you think? Perhaps, but knowing the battlefield of love will certainly help you avoid the more obvious pitfalls. Want to know what your best match is? What about your worst? This week, I've got the answers in a special guide to the classes.
Breakfast Topic: Will you be finding Love in the Air?
Guys. Seriously. I can't believe more people haven't mentioned the fact that Love is in the Air this year has a holiday mount involved -- the Swift Lovebird, which can be purchased for 270 Love Tokens. Have you not heard? Bird is the word, in the form of this absolutely gorgeous pink tallstrider. Needless to say, I do not care how much running around I have to do to get all those Love Tokens, by the end of this holiday, I will be riding around on a ridiculous pink mount ... because I can. There's a ton of other reasons to do the holiday as well, for achievements and for tons of fun items from the holiday bosses. I'll be faithfully killing the trio of Apothecaries in the hopes of getting fun prizes, provided the Apothecary Trio is still there, of course. I'm not much of a fan of Valentine's Day, but I do love fun world events. And giant pink tallstriders to ride around on. Did I mention the pink tallstrider? Are you planning on participating in Love is in the Air? Do you still have achievements to finish for the meta? And perhaps the most important question of them all: Will you be hunting down enough tokens for the Swift Lovebird as quickly as possible, too? Let us know -- and while you're at it, check out our Guide to Love is in the Air 2012 for tips on nabbing all those pesky achievements.
Love is in the Air customer support policy
Blizzard has posted a guide to what customer service and support can and cannot do for players during Love is in the Air, the WoW in-game holiday that runs between Feb. 5 through 20. As with most in-game events like this, players will be getting exclusive items, quests, tokens, prizes, and chances on really rare items like mounts from daily bosses. These events are designed to be rare and happen only once a year, and Blizzard stresses (again, by design) that these titles, achievements, and other event goodies need to be acquired during the holiday. Legitimate claims of items lost with logs will be restored as normal, but Blizzard wanted to make sure people knew in advance that item purchases and achievement-related issues during this limited-time event will most likely not be able to be addressed. Putting out notices like this is definitely a nice move by the community team. Many people have complained in the past of not knowing when a new event was starting in game or that their schedules did not permit them to complete all of the necessary holiday achievements and get all of the accompanying items. For many of those, the bright line rule is that "Blizzard wants these things to be rare," so they are rare by design. Remember: Get your holiday stuff done ASAP. This is your early notice that things will most likely not be given to you if you miss the event. The full blue post, after the break.
The OverAchiever: Guide to Love is in the Air 2012
Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. This week, we discover that love is not free. Hot on the heels of the Lunar Festival comes another WoW holiday! Love is in the Air returns this year from Sunday, Feb. 5 through Sunday, Feb. 19. Personally, I can't see too many players logging into the game on Super Bowl Sunday for the purpose of celebrating love and all its many-splendored things, but to each his own. After many tweaks to the holiday, it's definitely one of the less annoying and RNG-riddled outings from the What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been meta. Before you ask -- yep, it's required if you're still on the warpath for your Violet Proto-Drake. The finished holiday meta will also reward the title the Love Fool. If you're completely new to Love Is In the Air, you'll probably want to read our FAQ on the holiday. Otherwise, we'll be dealing with the holiday achievements here. There are only two optional ones if you're going for the meta, so I've listed all the ones you'll need first.
The OverAchiever: The worst (maybe) holiday achievements
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.
Patch 4.3's mounts and how to get them
The World of Warcraft Armory has been updated with new data on the various mounts added to the game with patch 4.3. This data includes confirmation of drop locations. At least two new mounts are being added to in-game holidays, as well as the reveal of the Glory of the Dragon Soul Raider meta achievement. Other mounts, like Experiment 12-B, are now confirmed rare drops off of the Ultraxion encounter in Dragon Soul. Blazing Drake and the Life-Binder's Handmaiden drop from the Madness of Deathwing encounter on normal and heroic difficulties respectively. Experiment 12-B is a rare drop from Ultraxion on normal or heroic mode. It appears to be a chromatic drake mount with a purple hue. Swift Lovebird will be bought from the Love is in the Air holiday vendor for 270 Love Tokens. It looks like a pink tallstrider. Swift Springstrider is purchased from the Noblegarden holiday vendors for 500 chocolates. It looks like a white tallstrider. Twilight Harbinger will be the mount reward for the Dragon Soul meta achievement, Glory of the Dragon Soul raider. As more mount information becomes available, we'll keep you updated. Brace yourselves for what could be some of most exciting updates to the game recently with patch 4.3. Review the official patch notes, and then dig into what's ahead: new item storage options, cross-realm raiding, cosmetic armor skinning and your chance to battle the mighty Deathwing -- from astride his back!
