winters-veil
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The best of WoW Insider: December 9-16, 2008
It's that time of year again -- the trees and lights are up in Azeroth, and Winter's Veil is upon us. Father Greatwinter is giving out gifts in Ironforge and Orgrimmar, and Blizzard devs are busy giving players the gift that keeps on giving: nerfs and more nerfs. Follow all of the wintry action at Joystiq's sister site WoW Insider -- if there's something under your tree that you need to know about, it'll be there, along with the usual cookies and milk. News World of Warcraft PTR 3.0.8 patch notesThe first post-expansion patch is queuing up on the test servers, and here's the notes. Mount race restrictions lifted, Tauren rejoiceNow you can mount up on all of the faction mounts, no matter what race you are. Character re-customization added for a small feeBlizzard makes it possible to re-customize your character's look or gender, for a price. FCC Commissioner: World of Warcraft causes college dropoutsThe same woman who blamed television for child obesity blames WoW for people dropping out of college. Warcraft restaurant opens in BeijingT.G.I. Frost Mages? We would also have accepted T.G.I. Fordragon's. Or Arthusbee's, though that last one is bad. Features The great Hunter nerf of 2008 BM Hunters get smacked with the nerf bat. The achievements of Winter's VeilThe Winter holiday has begun on the realms, and here's how to get your holiday title this time around. Patch 3.0.8: Analysis of Death Knight changesChanges to the dead man class in the new patch. Working at Blizzard: Sunshine, rainbows, claymores, backrubsA look inside the doors of one of the best game companies in the world, both from an interview with the COO and our own blogger's experience. Addon Spotlight: AchievementsA few good addons for tracking down all of those new achievement points.
The Guild: Christmas special 2008
Yes, The Guild is back with another Christmas special this year, and this time it's a retelling of "The Night Before Christmas" with a decidedly MMO spin. St. Nick is a level 90 rare spawn, apparently, and the guidies have to be careful -- not only does he have a few mean adds (including a reindeer with a Shiny Nose buff), but he's got more than one phase to get through, too.Very cute. The video should be on Xbox Live and the Zune marketplace as usual, and we should be very close to having the rest of the guild's episodes sitting right on The Guild's site as well, so stay tuned for that. Maybe next year we'll be able to see some of St. Nick's dropped loot tables.
Breakfast Topic: Happy Winter's Veil!
Ah, the sights, scents, and sounds of Winter's Veil: the gingerbread cookies, the eggnog, the beautifully-wrapped presents beneath the tree, bestowing cheer unto all in addition to -- coal? I wanted a Clockwork Rocket Bot! Man, screw this holiday. When's the Lunar Festival coming?Ignoring all the usual bah-humbuggish sentiments to which one might be prone during this wonderful and joyous holiday season (hmph), Winter's Veil seems to be one of the ingame events with the most staying power. There's not a single month out of the year where I haven't seen someone rolling around on a reindeer mount courtesy of a Preserved Holly, or a snowman suddenly pop in the middle of a raid while people are waiting for buffs. This year the new Winter's Veil achievements will ensure these items and quests get even more traffic than they have previously, so you can bet that both the 2008 holiday -- and older content, in the form of Fa-la-la-la-Ogri'la -- are going to be well-trod.As for me, well, my shaman wants a rocket bot. My druid hopes for peace on Azeroth and good will towards all men (and cows, and space goats, and dwarves, and...). My warrior would like a new sword. My warlock wants to see the world burn. I'm not entirely certain how to balance these competing desires, but I'll be keeping an eye on the gifts under Orgrimmar's tree.
The Achievements of Winter Veil
Looking for our 2010 Winterveil Guide? You'll find it here! The Feast of Winter Veil is almost upon us. The festivities kick off on December 15th, and will run until January 2nd. There are plenty of achievements to be had, as well as the title "Merrymaker" for completing them all. If you can complete every achievement from all of the holidays in a year, you will also be eligible for the achievement, What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been, which rewards you with a Violet Proto-Drake. You can refer to this guide for information about completing each achievement for this holiday, including links to maps and our usual comments section that should not be passed over if you're looking for tips. %Gallery-12195%
Enter to win one of two giftpacks from SwagDog and WoW Insider
The holidays are upon us, and what better gift to give the Warcraft player in your life than a customized t-shirt from Warcraft.SwagDog.com? You may have seen them right there on our gift guide, but we're making it even easier for you to give one away, by giving two lucky readers a gift certficate of their own (and if you want to use it for yourself, we won't tell anybody).Yes, we're giving away two different prizes from SwagDog -- a hoodie gift pack (retail value $65, includes a customized hoodie and free shipping), and a t-shirt gift pack (retail value $30, includes a t-shirt and free shipping). To enter, just leave a comment on this post between right now and Friday, December 12th at 6:00pm Eastern, and we'll choose two random winners then to get the gift packs. One comment per person, please, and make sure to use a real email so we can contact the winners easily. Must be 18 or older and live in the United States to win (Canadians can enter, but they may have to pay a few bucks extra for shipping, as the codes only pay for free shipping to the US). Click here for complete Official Rules.And if you don't win, don't worry -- SwagDog offers gift certificates of all kinds, and we're told that anything ordered from the site by December 16th should show up before the 25th. Good luck to everyone who enters the contest, and let us be the first to wish you a happy Winter's Veil! That's right, it starts next week!
Reminder: It's Winter's Veil in July!
"Ho ho hello, everyone! It is I, Greatfather Winter, reminding you that time is running out on your chance to enter WoW Insider's Winter's Veil in July contest. Yes, I and the kind folks at Smokeywood Pastures -- fresh from our farm to your plate, it's Smokeywood Pastures' wholesome goodness -- and Upper Deck are giving away a TCG Winter's Veil Gift set right here on WoW Insider in the middle of summer! Huzzah."To enter, I hear you have to go to our contest post, and put a comment there (one per person, must be in the USA or Canada, full rules available here). Please note: you must comment on that post, as putting a comment on this post will get you nothing but on my naughty list -- although that means that you might get some of Smokeywood Pastures' new line of coal products. They'll warm your fire so well, you'll feel just like me on Winter's Veil Eve."Wait, what? That makes no sense. Anyway, folks, your Great-father Winter is getting pretty tired here -- unlike the usual Winter's Veil festival, I don't have players bringing me cookies and milk all the time during the summer, so I get a little parched. But do make sure to run back to that post and comment, and have a happy -- what is this? July. From your friends at Smokeywood Pastures. I give up. Where's the Schnapps?"
WoW Insider's Winter's Veil in July contest
Hey, everybody, it's Great-father Winter! What's up G-FW?! What's that? You want to give some Winter's Veil swag away right now? But Great-father, it's the middle of summer here in the real world -- the Winter's Veil festival takes place in December! Aw, look at that scraggly beard, we can't say no to you. What the heck, we'll do it!Yes, WoW Insider (and Great-father Winter, along with our our friends at Upper Deck) is giving away a TCG Winter's Veil Collector's Set, featuring all kinds of holiday-themed TCG goodies. To enter, just leave a comment on this post telling G-FW how your summer is going before next Friday, August 1st, at 11:59 PM EST. You may enter only once (please use a real email to comment, so we can get in touch with you afterwards), and one commenter will be selected in a random drawing to get a free Winter's Veil Collector's Set (MSRP $39.99). You must also be a resident of the United States or Canada, and age 18 or older -- all the rest of the contest rules can be read by clicking here.Good luck! Thanks, Great-father Winter, for spreading your holiday cheer even during the offseason!
Clockwork Rocket Bots back in action
Let's get it on... again! Yes, while the level 30 mount news got a lot of play, and Rogues had to grapple with the Cheat Death nerf, there was one tasty morsel of news hiding in the patch 2.4.3 notes: Clockwork Rocket Bots will be back up to fighting shape! I've had this Winter's Veil gift in my pack from last December, and was bummed when they removed the ability of the bots to fight each other when summoned out. Now, finally, when two players have them summoned close to each other, the little bots (which look a little bit like Wall-E, don't they?) will throw down.According to the patch notes, the problem was a little strange, too -- the robots were supposedly attacking other people in the Arena. No idea why the bots would see other players as attackable targets in the Arena, but there you go. Unfortunately, the bots still aren't buffable, as they once were -- it was actually a really fun minigame trying to keep those little bots alive as they fought, but at this point, your bot is on its own. Which means when my bot comes by, your bot better watch its little bot-ty back! Fight!
Christie Golden working on an Arthas book, Legends story, and a secret project
Author Christie Golden, who's written a few Warcraft books for Blizzard in the past, has started up a blog, and her first post is full of fun info for fans of the expanded universe. First, she's going to be doing a novel about none other than the Lich King himself, Arthas Menethil. She's been chatting with Metzen about the book, and she says she's excited to tell the story of how "good people slide down that terrible, slippery slope to becoming monsters." Sounds about right to us.She's also working on a short story to be featured in Toykopop's Warcraft Legends series, based around Winter's Veil and called "I Got What Yule Need." Cute. We'll assume Goblins will be involved somehow. And finally, she's working on a third secret project -- it's not clear that it has to do with Blizzard (Golden writes her own fiction, as well as fiction for a few other properties), but why else would it be so secret, right? If we had to guess, we'd probably say a retelling or connection story for the Diablo stories -- if we do see the announcement of a new Diablo game at WWI, time would be ripe for Blizzard to catch players up on the lore of that setting as well.[via Blizzplanet]
Last Week on Massively: WoW-related stories
For those of you who asked to have all your WoW news from one source, you'll be happy to know that we now provide one RSS feed that combines both WoW Insider and all WoW-related Massively stories. You can find information on that feed in our special announcement post.Also, a few of you have requested a different format for this weekly posting that is more than link and description. So we now present to you: image, link and description! Ta da! Who loves ya baby?Now on to the good stuff:"Peace on earth goodwill to men" started with players this seasonEric Vice wanders the MMO lands in search of the Yuletide spirit. From Santa's sudden appearance in Middle-earth to a voice behind the Ironforge Christmas tree promising a seasonal surprise, join Eric on his quest for the spirit of the holidays.Adventures from the Back Row: World of Warcraft priestly resourcesMichael Zenke compiles a list of sites, forums, blogs and guides that are essential reading for anyone playing a Priest. Highlights include Elitist Jerks' Holy Raiding Compendium, Ten Ton Hammer's forum guide to What The MT Expects From The MH and a few of his favorite Priest blogs. He didn't mention our new Raid Healing column, Raid Rx, so I'll have to spam his e-mail box with articles until he adds to the list.
A clockwork nerf
Did you grab your Clockwork Robot Bot from under the tree this Winter's Veil? I did, and I was thrilled to find that the little wind-up robot is more or less what we asked for a while back-- when two of these guys are summoned next to each other, they'll battle it out. Now, they only have a few HP, so really, just one hit from one usually takes the other out.Unless you can buff them, that is. A few people found that you could cast Power Word: Shield and Power Word: Fortitude on the bots when they first came out, which meant that you could give them more health and make them invincible for a few seconds. Unfortunately, Max Bliss found out that's not the case any more-- Blizzard has performed a clockwork nerf, and the bots are now unbuffable. Lame.Sure it may be imbalanced that some people can buff their bots and make them live longer, but this is hardly an instance of life or death. Let the bots be buffed, Blizzard!
Well Fed Buff: Sideways Snowman
Every Thursday, Well Fed Buff will be serving up the tastiest dishes to boost your HP and stats, just in time for your weekend gaming. Winter Veil is over for the year, but it's still frosty outside – and everyone wants something to make 'em feel as warm and cozy as a bedbug in an Ironforge inn. Reader Lenny sent us his solution, in the form of a Warcraft-inspired drink he concocted on New Year's Eve. Sideways Snowman ¾ shot Hpnotiq® ¾ shot vanilla vodka Sprite® Over half a glass of ice, add 3/4 shot of Hpnotiq® and 3/4 shot of vanilla vodka. Stir a bit, and pour in Sprite® to fill. Lenny advises us that you can leave the Sideways Snowman relatively unstirred for a stronger effect as you drink it down, or mix it thoroughly for a more consistent flavor. Either way, we think this sounds worthy of a Winterspring frost! [Thanks, Lenny!]
Insider Trader: Connect-the-dot gathering
Insider Trader is your weekly inside line on making, selling and using player-made items. The experienced gatherers among us know something we don't know – they know where to find stuff. The real old hands know where the nodes are based on years (yeah, literally) of experience. They've collected so much for so long that they've developed time-tested, favorite routes for every zone. And then there are the tech-savvy gatherers who let technology map things out for them. We all know there are mods out there that show you where the nodes that you've gathered are, and most of us even know that you can download data packs that show where other players have found nodes. There's yet another tool out there that puts all that information together. This mod maps out the easiest route from node to node, connecting the dots in a single, efficient path. All you do is follow the path! Find out how after the break, as well as how to nab a pattern for Green Winter Clothes or Red Winter Clothes if you didn't receive one in the mail at the start of the Winter's Veil season.
WoW Moviewatch: Songs for dogs
While we're waiting for Oxhorn to release a Christmas CD of WoW songs, the guys over at Dirt Dog Gaming made up some of their own! When a forum member created a thread with a silly carol, the rest of the guild joined in. Then two of the braver members, Barenger and Mirabell, sang them. You can find the lyrics in the thread.Here is the song list: Oh Karazhan, by Barenger Silenced Mage, by Mirabell Pew pew WIPE, by Barenger Orcs infesting LBRS, by Brendan Oh Holy Knight, by Jashoo Winters Veil, by Mirabell Halt, The Harried raid leader screams, by Datchery Take it on a Raid, by Qyu Tanking for the first time, by Mirabell [Thanks, Infamy!]Previously on Moviewatch...
All the World's a Stage: Top ten ways to roleplay the holidays
All the World's a Stage performs for you every Sunday evening. Reserve your tickets early! This is a season of holidays for many people around the world, and indeed many of you may be faced with the peculiar situation of logging on to WoW only to discover that your entire guild is off with the family instead of playing online. So there you are, thinking of what to do, not entirely excited about joining a PuG with some random elf, and suddenly the idea comes to you: why not roleplay the holidays away? Even if your friends are online during their vacation time -- do you really want to just kill the same old monsters? Why not roleplay as a form of celebration?In this edition of All the World's a Stage, we bring to you the Holiday Roleplay Top Ten. Some are serious and some are silly; some are great for spontaneous fun with random strangers, while others can be a bit more theatrical and planned out with trusted friends. Read and discuss them all, then add any of your own ideas in the comments! Let the countdown begin: 10. Have a friendly snowball fight: Any snowy region in the game has these handy [Snowball]s just lying around for you to pick up and throw at each other. I myself have enjoyed running around trying to hit my friends with these things while at the same time dodging their tosses by hiding behind walls. You can count hits if you're feeling competitive, or else just toss recklessly and have a blast. Be sure to express your playful glee with /giggle and /rofl, and say things like "Ha ha! Gotcha!"
WoW logo gets completely frozen
If you haven't visited the forums or the official site in a while, you'll probably not have noticed that the ice we'd seen before on the logo has now overtaken it. Not too surprising-- the background on the forums and the homepage has changed as well, and considering that Winter's Veil is here, odds are that Blizzard is just getting a little seasonal with their graphics.Or are they? The original ice showed up more than a month ago-- way back, according to our readers, when Wrath of the Lich King was announced in August. And so, despite the candy canes, it's hard not to wonder if this signals a turning point in the WoW universe. We've still got the Sunwell coming before the expansion, but is there a chance that this icy winter could be here to stay? Northrend ahoy?Thanks, Joene!
Christmas time in Dun Morogh
Sure, our own Moo Money could have covered this awesome little Christmas machinima on our Cinemassively feature, but I just couldn't wait to post it-- it's too incredibly perfect. The guys at Pure Pwnage put it together, and if you've ever quested through WoW's Dun Morogh starting zone (where the Dwarves and the Gnomes begin their journey through Azeroth), this video will make you feel just like you went home again for the holidays, to Togglevolt, the Barleybrews, and even those cute little Snowshoe rabbits.Excellent work. Winter's Veil is just kicking off in the World of Warcraft, and it's the perfect time to head back to the warm fireplaces of Ironforge and the comfort of the Thunderbrews' tavern.[Via WoW Insider]
Well Fed Buff: Winter's Veil bark
Every Thursday, Well Fed Buff will be serving up the tastiest dishes to boost your HP and stats, just in time for your weekend gaming. To kick off the first edition of Well Fed Buff, and because we're launching right before Winter's Veil 2007, what better way to fill up than on holiday goodies? Winter's Veil bark is a decadent, mint-chocolate treat that is both decorative and extremely easy to make. This no-bake dessert snack also has quite a few ways that it can be customized, few ingredients, and is inexpensive. Perhaps the best part of this recipe is that it is extremely kid-friendly, so if you have kids or younger siblings, earn some brownie points and include them! Just follow me through the jump to get the details on how to whip up a plate! If you're still weary, note that you can do it all using your microwave.
The weekend in Warcraft: December 7 - 9th, 2007
Over on sister-site WoW Insider, the weekends may be light on news, but they're still packed full of info and analysis. Too busy playing to catch what may have been going on out-of-game this weekend? We understand -- and that's why we've broken the weekend down into tasty, bite-sized links, just for you! We're placing our bets on when Wrath of the Lich King is going to be released -- care to place yours? New details arrive on this year's Winters' Veil celebration. The Care and Feeding of Warriors wants to make life easier on their healersl Amanda Miller covers everything you need to know about tipping etiquette in the World of Warcraft. In the continuing discussion of ettiqueue, Lisa Poisso discusses gathering etiquette in this week's Insider Trader. Blizzard's most recent advertising campaign continues with Jean-Claude Van Damme in je suis un mage. Phat Loot Phriday covers the ultimate in ranged weapons: the Precisely Calibrated Boomstick. Just getting started? Check out these addons for the beginning player. And for those of you who are beyond beginner level, this week's AddOn Spotlight considers Comix. Another week of Two Bosses Enter brings us to the battle of Moam vs. Hakkar. This week's Arcane Brilliance covers the mage's utility spells.
WoW Insider interview with Brad Watson, top WoW TCG player
As we mentioned the other day, the WoW TCG World Championships are just around the corner-- they're kicking off in San Diego this coming weekend-- and WoW Insider got the chance to speak with one of the top players of the card game, Brad Watson. He's the US National Champion this year, and he, along with a long list of other qualified players, is going to sit down in San Diego to try and win the $100,000 First Place Prize.Brad spoke with us about how he got started in the card game, the best and worst cards to use during play, and how Upper Deck's TCG has changed over the last year or so since it began. He gave us interesting insight on how sets like Fires of Outland and the holiday Winter's Veil set have affected tournament play, and we even asked him about what average TCG players think of the loot cards that online gamers seem to go crazy over.Our interview with Brad Watson starts right after the jump. Stay tuned later this week for more news from Upper Deck's World Championships in San Diego.
