As the title suggests, a very happy holidays to you! It’s been a busy time around the Amateur household, to the point even Azeroth has not been seen much. I did hope on Zarahi in the hope that for once Blizzard would surprise me with something new from Greatfather Winter. Imagine my surprise when not only was there a new pet (see raptor in picture) but also a new toy as well! I don’t know if these are new to this year, or just new in my absence but they’re long overdue to me. Not because I am greedy by any stretch but because I feel like $100 a year per player (minimum) deserves a little something in return, more so than what the game generally offers.
To the topic at hand once more, though, I truly hope you and your family have had a nice holiday and I wish you the best in 2021. Illidan knows it can’t be as trying as this past year was.
edit: This is a re-post to correct the day of the event.
Yes indeed, it is once again that time of year. Time to slap on the bright red, green, and white, and head off caroling in a couple of Azeroth’s finest locations. This year’s event takes place on TUESDAY December 30th at 8pm EST. We will start Alliance side, and take our festive tunes to Kil’Jaeden’s house in the Sunwell Plateau. We’ll follow it up Horde side by jingling all the way to Al’akar at the Temple of the Four Winds.
If you have never been on a Gawdy Sweater Run (this is year…three? four?), the rules are quite simple. You replace your chestpiece with the Gawdy Sweater Item from the Winter Veil festival. Most people have one from years past, but if you don’t you can always get one from the Smokey Pastures vendor in Orgrimmar or Ironforge. Then we gather and storm the snow castles.
If you don’t have my Battle ID, you can either message me here or via my e-mail address. Otherwise I look forward to another fun night!
I’ve been running Firelands weekly since, well, I realized I could. So we’ll say almost two months. I’m honestly amazed at either how much little leather gear there is or just how bad my luck is. I actually average less than one leather item per run. But that’s not the reason I run it. Oh no. I want to be a fire cat. Druid of the Flame, that’s Zarahi. Or at least, it would be if Majordomo Staghelm ever dropped the darn staff.
With it being Christmas and all…and the annual daftness around the trees in Ironforge and Orgrimmar, I figured it was a good time to make my weekly run. Once again, next to no leather drops (though I did get a Tier helm). Alysrazor nearly killed me because I wasn’t paying attention…but she died, and no mount. A short while later I’m across the bridge and staring at that MajorPainInTheRear and then he’s dead. Scythe! Needless to say, a short while later I was enjoying the benefits of being a Druid of the Flame.
Oh yeah baby. Now, the only thing concerning me is that the buff ends the moment my combat ends. I know it’s supposed to be a mildly lingering effect, and just a few moments ago saw one in Ironforge. The player said it seemed to last for a bit out of combat, and that’s not the case for me. I don’t know if it’s a glitch or if the item was changed somewhat. But then it should affect all users the same way. Regardless, I’m still ecstatic for Fandral to give me such a lovely item this Christmas.
I’m pretty sure there was a near aneurysm on this one. Whether or not I actually have a favourite mount is what it boils down to. A number of my characters do, but can I really elevate one above the rest? At one point I probably would have selected the Winterspring Frostsaber or the incredibly popular Ashes of Al’ar. It really is a beautiful mount. I still love the Hippogryphs, particularly the Flameward version. I was fortunate the Molten Front started the day after my holidays began that summer as I had plenty of time to do all those dailies.
See what I mean? There’s plenty to choose from and many more that I haven’t even mentioned. The good news is I did manage to come to a conclusion, sort of. It’s in a picture that I’ve brought up more than once. My favourite mount is the one I gave to others.
To this day, I think this remains my favourite moment in World of Warcraft. Rounding up a bunch of friends randomly (well, as far as they knew) and handing out a Winter Veil present to each of them. As you can guess by the back row, it was the Jewelcrafting Panthers. Alas, those who rolled alts on Runetotem obviously weren’t able to mount up with the rest. It was something important to me that is really hard to describe. Knowing how much each one appreciated it certainly helped. I said it then, and I’ll say it now, I just wish I had planned it sooner so that I could have amassed more gold to get a few more made.
This shot is of Mrs. Amateur’s Mage, Taelainne. I had her call down the flame as one of three covers I did for her dice case (the other two were, of course, Arcane and Frost), to match the dice inside.
Essentially Winter Veil is over for another year. We have less than a week of Greench farming left and then that is it for another year…where we can expect the exact same thing. For all that Blizzard does with World of Warcraft, they don’t do enough to keep old things fresh. When they do, they call it an expansion.
It would be nice to have a living world in the sense that other games try to create, but I’m certainly not that demanding. But they sure could go the extra mile and freshen up some of the holiday events and none more so than Winter Veil. Log in, get the Greench quest if you’re high enough and farm him daily to get the single new item they’ve added to the loot table because even the level requirement hasn’t changed. Then grab gifts on Christmas Day.
I honestly love the developers putting actual gifts under the Winter Veil tree. I think it’s an incredibly nice gesture but it unfortunately holds zero value any more. Heck, I know players who didn’t even bother opening their gifts this year because they would end up deleting them. Can’t say as I necessarily blame them. There’s only so far a stack of Roast can go again.
Now obviously there’s some merit to the Greench aspect, since it was packed every time I flew out there (yup, for the pet). Many times, didn’t even need to fight him. Just collect and move on. So apparently the player base still has enough enjoyment in it I suppose. Even the gift opening was absolute chaos but that was thanks to Ironforge being a CRZ. Slow clap for that one.
Now I’m not going to sit and gripe without an idea of my own, no matter how unlikely it might be. You see, I think one simple change to the gift process would make it interesting again. First off, ditch said roast. It’s a waste to use at low level and there’s better food at high level. I know people like the Holly for the mount look. Also, don’t add one thing just for an achievement. Instead, keep the festive items at a reasonable drop rate (…wand included I suppose) and put in a slim chance that one gift is something else. In much the same idea as the Timeless Isle, make it gear for that class (or even a weapon). Whether it’s epic or not, and BoP, it’s something different. Include pets and mounts that are less common/drops as well. Just create that slim chance of a nice surprise showing up and I think it would make it exciting. Of course, you would be disappointed if you didn’t get something and knew plenty of others that did. To counter that, I was among those disappointed with what was under the tree this year.
Speaking of which, that brings me to the gift part. As a result of this year’s “excitement,” I have a few Snowman Kits and Red And Green Helpers respectively. I didn’t get a count of how many of each I now have, but I’m happy to give away my extras on a first come, first serve, basis. Just leave a comment below with which pet you need. I know many will have all three but I’m trying to do something with the extras I find myself with now. Hopefully it’s you. When you leave your comment, just give me a character name and server you’re on (US or Oceanic only) and I’ll make a character and mail it to you.
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