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Breakfast Topic: What's your favorite Darkmoon Faire game?
In case you've been avoiding major cities recently, consider this your monthly reminder that the time of the Darkmoon Faire is once again upon us, bringing another month's worth of carnival games, prizes and fun. Never been? Start by heading to Goldshire or Mulgore, where a portal will take you straight there. If that's too much travel time, you should be able to find mages in all major cities willing to send you to your destination for a small fee. If you want to take advantage, act fast: it will only be here for a week. Once it closes up shop on the 13th, you'll have to wait another month. So go on, check it out; we promise that this Breakfast Topic will still be here when you get back. [hold music plays] Okay, back? Great! Now we can get to talking about everyone's favorite Darkmoon activities. You do have a favorite, don't you? Perhaps it's the island's unique wild pets or a certain top hat. But maybe carnival games are more your style, like shooting yourself out of a canon or tossing rings onto a turtle? Or maybe you're just in it for the pets, mounts, and heirlooms you can buy for Darkmoon Prize Tickets. Whatever your reasons for visiting the Faire, you must have a favorite thing to do once you're there. So share!
Patch 5.2 PTR: More hats!
Perculia of Wowhead has been very busy indeed dealing with the denizens of the Darkmoon Faire on the patch 5.2 PTR. Her hot topic of today is hats, including this fetching headgear in the header image. This is the Darkmoon Top Hat, a recently discovered headpiece which grants the wearer a 10% buff to reputation and experience gain that lasts one hour. Quite apart from that, it looks marvelously fetching, don't you think? Upon using said hat, as Perculia adeptly displays in the image above, the wearer will briefly experience the hat's built in firework display, which will sporadically reappear throughout the hour it lasts for. Note that we said using, not equipping, because the wearer only appears to be wearing the hat. There is no need to remove your existing hat, this hat is naught but an hour-long illusion. Alas, the hat is consumed upon use, but fear not, a fresh hat can be purchased from Gelvas Grimegate for the princely sum of ten Darkmoon Prize Tickets. The hat can also drop from the Darkmoon Game Prize awarded by the Darkmoon daily quests, such as The Humanoid Cannonball. In other Darkmoon hat news, Wowhead has also datamined the Darkmoon Fishing Cap. While it doesn't sound nearly as dapper as the Darkmoon Top Hat, the Fishing Cap grants the wearer an additional five fishing skill, and has a very handy on-use effect, summoning a pool of Shipwrecked Debris -- the Darkmoon fishing pool. Gone are the days of searching for fishing pools, now they come to you, as long as the Darkmoon Faire is in town, and you don't mmind waiting an hour between pools. On second thought, your fishing may be more time-efficient if you do also search for pools. The source of the Fishing Cap is, as yet, unknown... Mists of Pandaria is here! The level cap has been raised to 90, many players have returned to Azeroth, and pet battles are taking the world by storm. Keep an eye out for all of the latest news, and check out our comprehensive guide to Mists of Pandaria for everything you'll ever need to know.
Ride your own Darkmoon Carousel (sandbox) mounts
The wonderful Perculia of Wowhead fame tweeted today that she'd added a new vendor's items to the site, and it caught WoW Insider's collective eye, with our love for quirky items and the like. Just added this to the DMF guide, Gelvas Grimegate sells more sandbox rides in 5.1, looks like carousel rides: wowhead.com/npc=14828 - perculia (@perculia) December 5, 2012 Sandbox mounts that look like the Darkmoon Carousel? We had to check it out. It took a short while to locate the vendor, Gelvas Grimegate, very near to the carousel itself. But once we did, he had a huge array of sandbox mounts to sell, for only one Darkmoon Prize token for ten charges. What's the catch? With a deal as good as that, there's always a catch. And this is no exception. Sandbox mounts don't move, they are stuck to the ground by their springy stands, and simply undulate gently back and forth. What's more, that one Darkmoon Prize Token only buys you ten charges, but you can carry as many sets of those ten-charge items as you see fit. So you can only summon this incredibly entertaining wooden murloc ten times per purchase, and the same applies for the rest, of which there are many! Mists of Pandaria is here! The level cap has been raised to 90, many players have returned to Azeroth, and pet battles are taking the world by storm. Keep an eye out for all of the latest news, and check out our comprehensive guide to Mists of Pandaria for everything you'll ever need to know.
Darkmoon Carousel increases XP and reputation gains
WoW Insider received various reports via Twitter and email of a bonus to reputation and experience granted by taking a ride on the Darkmoon Carousel. Further investigation indicates that this is indeed the case. The carousel works similarly to the maypole-styled stick during the Fire Festival, in that the longer you spend spinning the longer the duration of your buff. The buff is named WHEE! and increases experience and reputation gains by 10%. It's very fast to build up, and you don't actually have to ride the carousel itself to gain the buff, just be near to it. If you want to stand on it but not mount one of the carousel mounts, that's just fine too. To access the Carousel you'll need at least one Darkmoon Ride Ticket in your inventory. Fortunately, these can be bought 5 at a time in books from Kae Ti, the NPC in the tent through which you enter the Carousel. If you have a Darkmoon Ride Ticket in your inventory already, one will simply be subtracted from your total as you walk into the Carousel area. Don't confuse the ride tickets with Darkmoon Prize Tickets, which have an almost identical icon, but are rewards rather than access tokens. The Prize Tickets are a currency and appear with your Valor points and the like, while the Ride Tickets stack in your bag. If you get onto one of the carousel's mounts, and can't seem to get off, type /leavevehicle into chat. You can also keybind this function via the WoW Key Bindings menu. Mists of Pandaria is here! The level cap has been raised to 90, many players have returned to Azeroth, and pet battles are taking the world by storm. Keep an eye out for all of the latest news, and check out our comprehensive guide to Mists of Pandaria for everything you'll ever need to know.
The OverAchiever: That Rabbit's Dynamite!
Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. This week, the shadow of a nameless, albeit cuddly, fear. One of the problems with WoW's complexity is how difficult it is to write about anything that you haven't personally done. As a result, most OverAchiever columns are about achievements I've either finished or am actively working on, in the hopes of avoiding outdated or inaccurate information. However, this week's option cracked me up so much that, even though my guild's largely on break until Mists of Pandaria hits, I kind of have to write about it. Today, dear readers, we are going to address a brand-new achievement, from what is currently the most dangerous raid boss in the game as of patch 5.0.4: The killer rabbit of Darkmoon Island. Stop laughing and get back here. That rabbit's dynamite.
Darkmoon artifacts will drop even when there is no Faire
Bashiok has provided further clarification on the Darkmoon Island artifacts that drop from dungeons, Battlegrounds, and raids that are turned in for Darkmoon tickets -- these will continue to drop for players who have a Darkmoon Adventurer's Guide regardless of whether the Faire is in town. These artifacts can be saved up and turned in when the Darkmoon Island event is taking place, so don't worry about grinding out these artifacts this week only. This makes me a very happy Faire-goer. Darkmoon Artifacts will drop regardless of whether the faire is in town Just to clarify one point, the quest drops that happen in the dungeons/raids/BG's happen all the time, even if the faire isn't in town. Think of it sort of like the Darkmoon Card redemptions. You're out playing all month, while you're doing stuff you're getting chances at the items, then when the faire is in town you turn it all in. (It's also worth pointing out that the turn-in items aren't soulbound, so just like the cards I'd expect some people to farm them just to put them up on the AH.) It's really just this first week and appearance of the faire that's off because the Darkmoon Adventurer's Guide wasn't available for the 3 weeks prior. When it rolls around next month there should be better feel for how the whole system and ticket acquisition rate feels. source 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!
Darkmoon Faire ticket clarifications
One of the coolest features in patch 4.3 was the introduction of the Darkmoon Faire Island, a brand new, self-contained island packed with new games, pets, mounts, prizes, and everything Silas Darkmoon and his merry band of carnies and personalities can muster for your enjoyment. Players earn tickets from completing games, bringing in Darkmoon artifacts from dungeons, PvP, and raids and from doing profession quests. Many players (myself included) were confused as to how many tickets players could earn each week, considering there is so much we want to buy and so many tickets needed to save up for it all. Bashiok has put together a great forum post that outlines just how many tickets you can get per month. Bashiok's post clearly points out that the max number of tickets a player can get during each Darkmoon Island week is 145 tickets. The only issue is that a mount from the Darkmoon Faire costs 180 tickets, so players will have to wait until the next Darkmoon Island opens to claim their first mount reward. Now that the number of tickets is spelled out, it doesn't actually seem as bad as I originally thought it was going to be. However, the weird thing that still permeates all of this is why playing the games at the Faire, the real focus of the island, rewards players with the lowest amount of tickets. The random Darkmoon artifacts that you get as drops from PvP, dungeons, and raids give substantially more in terms of tickets than the games themselves; the random pickups or Auction House items eclipse the daily games in terms of rewards. I really like the new Faire and hope that the prize ticket changes for the games can be upped to reflect their focus. Hit the jump to read Bashiok's breakdown of Darkmoon Faire tickets.
Patch 4.3: The games of Darkmoon Island
The Darkmoon Island is all about fun, prizes, and having a place to relax after a hard night's work of punching Deathwing in the face for all that cataclysmic stuff he has been busy doing the past year. Coming with patch 4.3, the Darkmoon Island is a new Darkmoon Faire experience that builds on the successes of the past Darkmoon events in WoW in a big way, finally giving Silas Darkmoon and his crazy cast of characters an island worthy of the Faire. For one week at the top of each month, players will get to play games and carnival attractions, complete quests, and earn tickets to purchase prizes including old replica dungeon gear, new companion pets and mounts, and heirlooms. Each game at the Faire has a daily quest associated with it that rewards tickets. Let's explore the games of the Darkmoon Island.
Patch 4.3 PTR: The (real) ghosts of Darkmoon Faire Island
Darkmoon Island is home to the brand new Darkmoon Faire. In the original preview for the new Faire, we learned that some shady people and some crazy deals were made to secure the island location for Silas Darkmoon and his traveling Faire. What the Darkmoons got with their purchase, however, might be the real mystery lurking beneath the unassuming Faire-grounds. Spoiler warning: There are spoilers for the patch 4.3 content that is currently on the public test realms. If you do not want to be spoiled, I wouldn't read the rest of this.
Patch 4.3 PTR: New pets and mounts from Darkmoon Island
As you saw in our Darkmoon Faire video tour, the revamped Faire is now active on the PTR. It brings a batch of new companion pets and mounts for you to collect, including the Darkmoon Dancing Bear, the Swift Forest Strider, and seven brand new companion pets. Each of these mounts and pets must be purchased with game tickets, which are earned by winning the game attractions once per day. Hop past the jump for all of the new pets and mounts and their ticket costs.
Patch 4.3 PTR: Darkmoon Faire video tour
This morning, I hopped onto the public test realm and hit up the brand new Darkmoon Faire island coming in Patch 4.3: Hour of Twilight. The Darkmoon island will be available to players for one week at the top of every month, with portals to the island in major cities and in the abandoned sites that the Darkmoon Faire operates in, Elwynn Forest and Mulgore. Once through the portal, you are free to roam the Faire to play all-new games, win tickets, complete profession quests that award skill points, and complete quests for reputation with the Darkmoon Faire. Old fan-favorite characters like Asric and Jadaar even make an appearance. Check out the video above for a romp through the all-new Darkmoon island. 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!
Breakfast Topic: The new Darkmoon Faire
In case you missed it, Blizzard has unveiled the new and improved Darkmoon Faire that will be coming to Azeroth in patch 4.3. The Darkmoon Faire will occupy an entire island and be filled to the brim with new quests, rewards, fun novelty items, and even a brand new, free-for-all PVP arena in the same vein as the Gurubashi Arena. The changes are massive, turning the Darkmoon Faire into a whole new experience for players. There are so many features coming with the new Faire that it's hard to choose the coolest one. So that's what we should talk about this morning. What is your favorite feature coming with the new Darkmoon Faire? Is it the ability to purchase old vanity armor sets that are difficult to obtain or just don't exist anymore? What about the ability to gain five skill points in all of your professions per week while the Faire is in town? Are you a questaholic, excited to complete all of the new quests and storylines that the Faire will provide? How about collecting Darkmoon Artifacts, found all over the world, in order to earn prizes, rewards, and more?
Patch 4.3 preview: The all-new Darkmoon Faire
The Darkmoon Faire is getting a full-on revamp in the upcoming patch 4.3 update to Cataclysm, giving the Faire its own island secretly hidden away within the mists. The old ticket system from the Faire of yesteryear is being replaced with new quests, new games to play for tickets, and more. From the preview, we can expect a fez-wearing monkey companion pet, new toys and balloons, more heirlooms, fun souvenirs, and replica sets of long-lost armor that have been removed from the game or are extremely hard to get. New achievements and titles are also coming. This is a huge content update to the Darkmoon Faire. From the preview, this appears to be the Molten Front of the Darkmoon Faire, a huge, fun questing and game experience that involves fun toys, games, and more. Games include Whack-a-Gnoll, Tonk Battle Royale, the ominious-sounding Cannon, a ring toss game, a shooting gallery, and more to be announced. A new Gurubashi Arena-style free-for-all PVP arena called the Darkmoon Deathmatch will be introduced, as well. One of the most interesting parts of the new Darkmoon Faire is that you will be able to gain experience, prize tickets, and skill points for your professions -- up to five skills points per profession per Faire week. If you've been struggling with those last few points in a profession or want to level up alts' professions without spending too much on the Auction House, the first week of each month at the Faire opens up some new options.
Alliance get first community unlockable from Darkmoon Faire
The Alliance have unlocked the first community prize from Blizzard's Cataclysm ramp-up site, The Darkmoon Faire: Your Fortune Awaits. Visitors to the site choose a faction and "Like" certain pages on Facebook in order to earn points for their respective side. The Alliance, with 11 percent, has unlocked a video interview with Gary Platner, the leader environment artist on World of Warcraft. Head over to the Fortune website to check out the video. Update: The Horde has also unlocked its first community video, an interview with Jesse McCree, the lead level designer for World of Warcraft. World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it; nothing will be the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion (available Dec. 7, 2010), from brand new races to revamped quests and zones. Visit our Cataclysm news category for the most recent posts having to do with the Cataclysm expansion.
The Darkmoon Faire departing until June
Remember, tomorrow will be the last day you can attend the Darkmoon Faire this month. If you haven't had an opportunity to turn in your decks or acquire your tickets yet, you should hurry! Even if you don't want any material rewards, at least shoot yourself out of a cannon before it's all over.If you haven't finished your decks yet, you'll be waiting quite awhile for another opportunity to do so. The Darkmoon Faire will return on June 9th and no earlier. As always, if you haven't been able to visit the Faire in person for one reason or another, you can always check out our image gallery below!%Gallery-20398%
The Darkmoon Faire departs until May
Today, the 13th of April, is the final day to check out the Darkmoon Faire this month over in beautiful Mulgore. Remember, if you're planning on getting some material rewards out of your trip there, you may want to check out our guides to find out how. I really do recommend stopping in, even if you're not after any fancy loot. Standing around and drinking fake beer and eating fake food can be a lot more fun than it sounds!If you weren't able to visit the Faire this time around, don't worry! For one, it'll be back on May 5th. For two, we've immortalized the Darkmoon Faire in the gallery below! Peek inside for thrills, chills, and really drunk Tauren.%Gallery-20398%
The Darkmoon Faire is in town!
The Darkmoon Faire is in town, and it's on time this month! This time around you'll find it in Mulgore, just outside of Thunder Bluff. For future visits to the Darkmoon Faire, you can always check the official Events Calendar to find out when and where!If today will be your first time at the Faire, Daniel Whitcomb has a few neat little guides of you to take a look at, right here on WoW Insider. First, we have a guide for those interested the Faire's ticket system(why you would be, I do not know), and another about the very cool trinkets you can get via the Darkmoon Decks.The real awesome part about the Faire, though? The Iced Berry Slush. I'm serious! Go try one! Go go go!
Darkmoon Faire Decks: An overview
As I've mentioned before, The Darkmoon Faire is currently in Terrokar Forest, just outside Shattrath City, so if you have decks to turn in or need to refill your private stock of Darkmoon Special Reserve, now's the time to get on it. But if you're still a little bit taken aback by the prospect of gathering all those cards, or wondering if the trinket at the end will really be worth it, we'd like to help you out. In this post, we'll be looking at both the old and new decks and listing some pros and cons of each deck so you can figure out if you want to spend the next month tracking down cards before the Faire shows up in Elwynn Forest in March, or even if you just want to blow your epic flying mount fund on getting a deck before it leaves for the month. We'll start in on everything after the jump.
The Darkmoon Faire comes to Austin
Elwynn, Mulgore, and...Texas? Unlikely as it may seem, apparently the Darkmoon Faire is going to be making an appearance in the land of Blizzard's latest GM center this weekend. This event is being put on by Upper Deck Entertainment, who make the WoW trading card game, at the Austin Convention Center this weekend, Friday through Sunday. There will be all manner of TCG tournaments for everyone from noobs to experts, of course, but here's my question: will there be anyone on hand to sell pet frogs? I don't think so.On the other hand, Blizzard will apparently be setting up a private PvP server just for the event with premade 70s decked out in Gladiator gear, and there will be 30 PCs running Arena and Battlegroup competitions using these characters for real-world prizes. That might even be better than pet frogs. Lots and lots of prizes are at stake in the card games and other events, from booster packs to iPods to computers, and the event is open to the public with no entry fee, so if you're going to be in Austin this weekend, it's probably worth checking out.
New Darkmoon cards stats revealed
I was never able to collect any of the Darkmoon cards (although I'm pretty sure I have six or seven of the Warlords cards sitting in my Warrior's bank), but I always thought they were a great idea. Since the expansion, however, the old cards haven't been quite up to par for level 70s. Enter the new Darkmoon decks-- Blue announced a little while ago that there would be new cards to collect, and now Tiare has compiled what the new Darkmoon trinkets will do for you when completed.[Darkmoon Card: Vengeance] (Ace - Eight of Storms)You have a 10% chance when hit by an attack or harmful spell to deal 95 to 115 holy damage to your attacker.[Darkmoon Card: Wrath] (Ace - Eight of Furies)Each time one of your direct damage attacks does not critically strike, you gain 17 critical strike rating and 17 spell critical strike rating for the next 10 sec. This effect is consumed when you deal a critical strike. (Stacks up to 20 times)[Darkmoon Card: Crusade] (Ace - Eight of Blessings)Each time you deal melee damage to an opponent, you gain 6 attack power for the next 10 sec., stacking up to 20 times. Each time you land a harmful spell on an opponent, you gain 8 spell damage for the next 10 sec., stacking up to 10 times.[Darkmoon Card: Madness] (Ace - Eight of Lunacy)Each time you land a killing blow on an enemy, you gain the Power of Madness.Unfortunately, we're not quite sure what "Power of Madness" means-- it could be anything from a simple beserk buff (+Damage and Spell Damage, -Healing recieved), to a shapechange to a Worgen, or even "Opens a portal into the Twisting Nether that periodically summons demonic minions to aid the caster in battle for 14 sec." (at least that's what the rumors say).But sweet cards nevertheless. The Wrath and Crusade cards look especially cool, but I'm confused about the 10 second limit-- someone with Wrath can supposedly build up to a whopping +340 crit rating, but does that mean they somehow have to hit 20 times (without critting) within 10 seconds? Is that even possible? I don't see it procing more than two or three times before the ten seconds are up or a crit appears.[ via MMO-Champion ]
