Phat Loot Phriday: Preserved Holly
Come the Feast of Winter Veil, Smokeywood Pastures descends on Azeroth and offers up all sorts of neat seasonal loot. But of the fun things they can give you, this is probably the best.
Name: Preserved Holly
Type: Quest Reward
Damage / Speed: N/A
Abilities:
Use: Transforms your mount into "something more festive."
AKA a freakin' reindeer! Yes, your mount turns into Metzen the Reindeer, complete with a shiny nose.
Some would even say it glows.
How to Get It: As you might guess, yes, it is a quest reward. If you want this mount, you'll have to join in on Blizzard's reindeer games. In the capital cities of each faction (Org and Ironforge), there is a Christm-- err, sorry, Feast of Winter Veil tree with a few goblins standing by it. One of them will be giving out quests this holiday season, and you want the one called Metzen the Reindeer. Now, all the research I've found says the quest is level 60, but on my 51 rogue I was able to obtain it. Your mileage may vary on lower levels-- post in the comments if you have trouble. Since it is a mount, I'd assume you need at least level 40.
Anyway, get the quest, and you'll find it requires you to seek out one Metzen the Reindeer (named, yes, after Blizzard's "Head Architect" of World of Warcraft). Read the notes given you to, and it'll be pretty obvious that you'll find him in Tanaris, in south part of the pirate camp along the coast (in among the buildings south of the big bonfire). Talk to Metzen, sprinkle the fairy dust on him that you're given, and boom, it is a Christmas Miracle! Your mount is a reindeer! Wait, I mean it's a Feast of Winter Veil miracle. Never mind.
There's one more way to get this item, but it's not nearly as much fun as finding Metzen. Near the goblins, there is a machine called a "Holly Preserver"-- just stick some Deeprock Salt and 5 gold in there, and voila, Preserved Holly. But why do that when you can save a reindeer?
And I can't resist telling you: this item first appeared as an exclusive last year right here on this very website. Go us!
Getting Rid of It: You want to get rid of the reindeer? You grinch! Preserved Holly doesn't expire, but the buff does-- you get 5 charges for completing the quest, so use them wisely. Also, there's a bug in the game right now, where if you have buffed your mount to look like a reindeer, and then try to dismount, you'll get an error that says "You are mounted." Well no duh. To get off the reindeer, you have to right click and remove the buff.
