These are tumultuous times in the WOW universe with dramatic changes happening almost too fast to keep up with. First there came new and expanding quest lines and new boss encounters here today and virtually gone tomorrow. Then the cataclysmic shattering of the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor followed, it would seem, by a number of years of rebuilding. In the midst of this time of peril and change, even as the world is remade, the NPCs outside factional cities continue to celebrate the seasonal festival Pilgrim’s Bounty uninterrupted and basically unchanged from when it was introduced last year.
Pilgrim’s Bounty is “a time for reflecting on your journeys and good fortune, sharing plentiful food, and stories with friends.” This seasonal event clearly draws from the celebration of Thanksgiving, particularly as it is celebrated in the USA, as supported by the term “pilgrim”, the traditional 17th century pilgrim clothing, the names of some of NPCs (e.g. Miles Standish ) and the traditional Thanksgiving foods (wild turkey, cranberry sauce, candied sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie) which allowed the pilgrims to survive the first year in their new country. The founding story celebrates a group of families (about 100 people) who undertook the perilous journey to the New World in an effort to escape discrimination and to fulfil a vision of a new home in which they would be able to worship and serve their God in accordance with their faith and conscience. The “pilgrims” initially gave thanks to God for surviving the storms and dangers of the journey across the ocean when they landed in November 1620. Later, after the harshness of their first winter severely threatened their survival (half their number died), they managed to plant crops, fish and hunt with the help of an English-speaking Indian Squanto. In the autumn of 1621 they once again held an official thanksgiving service and harvest festival for the bountiful harvest which they shared with local Indians.
The Pilgrims’ forming of the Mayflower compact (to hold to just and representative government), their valuing of freedom of religion and toleration, their friendly relations with the indigenous people and their epic journey have become part of the founding narrative of USA.
Quiz on Thanksgiving and pilgrim fathers
In the spirit of Thanksgiving, Pilgrim’s Bounty celebrates the bountiful harvest and the spirit of sharing with tables laden with traditional foods, cooking quests to keep the feast going and wild turkey hunting.
I enjoyed Pilgrim’s Bounty immensely when it was introduced for the first time last year. I was able to power level the cooking of several of my toons, enjoyed the virtual dining experience of Thanksgiving favourites (turkey, spiced stuffing, cranberry chutney, candied sweet potato and pumpkin pie), and had fun sneaking into the food laden tables of my faction foes. Forming a group to down Talon King Ikiss – even underequipped in pilgrim attire – wasn’t too hard for my toons 70+ and though it took a while to get the hang of Turkinator – I soon had several of my toons chasing wild turkeys through Elwynn Forest and Tirisfal Glades. This year, the quests and achievements have not changed from last year – what has changed is the atmosphere and backdrop.
Achievements
Completion of all the following achievements awards the title Pilgrim and Plump Turkey pet and it doesn’t count towards What a Long Strange Trip it has Been and the Violet Proto-drake.
- Sharing is Caring (pass one of each of the five dishes at bountiful table), FOOD FIGHT!(bounce food of a fellow players head at a bountiful table) And Pilgrim’s Paunch (obtain the spirit of sharing at each of your four main faction cities) all involve using the bountiful tables. To use the table approach one of the chairs, use the green arrow to sit and a tool bar will appear. The first action key on the bar will enable you to pass the food connected to your chair (eg turkey at the turkey chair). Select another seated player or chair to pass this item (you will need to do this in all 5 different chairs to get the achievement), and pass the food item to another player twice to bounce it off their head (you only need to do this once). The other action keys (2-6) enables to eat the different foods – the food related to your chair and any other foods that other players may have passed to your position. You need to eat each of the 5 types of food 5 times to get the Spirit of Caring, and do this at all four cities to get the achievement. The red arrow allows you to leave the table.
- Now We’re Cooking (cook up one of the five Pilgrim Bounty’s dishes) and Pilgrim’s Progress (complete each of the Pilgrim’s Bounty dailies) require completing the cooking tasks associated with the festival (see below).
- Pilgrim’s Peril – take a seat at your enemy’s bountiful table will wearing a pilgrim’s dress or attire (don’t forget to be dressed for the occasion). In all cases except Darnassus and Undercity, the bountiful tables are set just outside the city though you may still be flagged and it may still be possible to aggro guards (and of course enemy players). If you do get killed before getting to the table, make sure you rez on top of a chair to give you time to use it before NPCs and players start attacking again. For Undercity, the tables are set up in the ruined upper city of Lordaeron. In Darnassus the tables are in the area east of the Warrior’s Terrace which requires getting to Teldrassil, taking the portal to Darnassus, going past the bank tree, up the ramp and through the Warrior’s Terrace. In the past Horde could get the boat from Auberdine with the shattering this is no longer possible, however the boat now sails directly from Stormwind to Ruth’ven Village. To reach Silvermoon City in Eversong Woods players need to cross high level areas such as the Western and Eastern Plaguelands. The Pilgrim clothes can be obtained through completing the dailies.
- Turkey Lurkey requires that you Turkeyify the rogues of the various races (Human, Dwarf, Night Elf, Gnome, Blood Elf, Undead, Troll, Orc). The turkey shooters can be obtained as rewards from the cooking dailies and using it consumes the shooter (which means you need to do a minimum of 8 dailies to complete this achievement). Finding rogues of one’s own faction is not too difficult – look in your main cities, at the tables or possibly in starter zones. To find rogues aligned to the other faction, go to the sanctuary or neutral cities (before the Shattering Dalaran was the best place for this – but places like Gadgetzhan, Evertook, Booty Bay and even Shattrath are still possibilities), battlegrounds, enemy bountiful tables and starting zones.
- Terokkar Turkey Time – defeat Talon King Ikiss while wearing a Pilgrim hat and one other item of Pilgrim attire. Ikiss is the final boss in Sethekk Halls (level 68-72) and he hits hard with his arcane explosion (which generally follows his blink). Getting out of line of sight (i.e. behind the pillars) will protect against this aoe spell.
- The Turkinator – requires hunting 40 wild turkeys in the required time. You get a 30sec buff (that runs the counter) every time you kill a turkey. However, if the 30 secs elapses you will need to start all over again. The turkeys are placed roughly within eyesight of each other so that it is easy enough to spot and bag the next one before the timer runs out – assuming others are not also hunting in your area and/or you hit an empty spot (for instance a farm or village). Thus:
- It is best to attempt this achievement when few players are in the area and/or hunt in the more remote areas (along the riverbank in Elwynn forest for instance). Around 3-5am server time and in the middle of the festival (i.e. not in the first few days or the last day) are good times to hunt.
- It is possible to make a macro (/tar wild ) to help target the wild turkeys, hunters can use track beasts and some foods (e.g. tracker snackes) allow you to track beasts for a period of time. However, the turkeys are not that hard to spot once you know what you are looking for.
- It helps to increase your speed if you can e.g. aspect of cheetah for hunters, travel form for druids, sprint for rogues, blink for mages etc. If your speed buff has a cool down you may wish to keep it in reserve for when you hit an empty spot. It is also possible to use your mount – but of course you need to factor in the time it takes to mount.
- Hunters, Warlocks etc should remember to keep their pet of passive (you don’t get the buff if your pet kills the Turkey) though I sometimes switched to defensive on my hunter to deal with mobs I’d accidentally aggroed;
- Use an instant low level ranged spell or attack on the turkeysthat you can still use while moving if possible and that doesn’t drain too much energy/mana/focus/rage. You could also include this attack into your marco. You will generally have time to loot the turkeys (for cooking purposes) though this does take a few seconds so if you are getting close to the achievement you may decide not to loot.
- Try to avoid hostile mobs and ignore them as much as possible (generally possible for all but the lowest level characters) as it can take time to deal with them.
- I generally try to do a large circuit through areas I know turkeys to be – for instance one possibility in Elywnn Forest is to start at Westpoint Tower loop down south (but not too far into the Riverpaw area), cross the creek and go south of the farms, looping above Jerod’s Landing or where there are murlocs, then head south and east (but not too far east) of Ridgepoint Tower, along the eastern and then northern sides of Eastvale LoggingCamp, then south of the lake, continuing either westwards across country or southwards along the roads. Another possibility is to follow the verges of the roads though there are likely to be more players in these areas. In Tirisfal Glades good areas can be just south of the Scarlett Monastry, around the Bulwark area or near Brill. Be flexible in your course and be careful not to head off on a dead end.
- If you see a turkey hunter coming towards you then it’s probably a good idea to strike of in another direction and/or mount up as they will have cleared the area behind them.
- Don’t worry if you get don’t get it the first, second or indeed a number of times. Use each attempt as a learning experience – about where turkeys are likely to be, the best attacks and strategies to use etc. If there are just too many other hunters about, it might be better to come back another time.
Quests
The quests associated with Pilgrim’s Bounty are basically cooking quests. By following these quests, learning the recipes and using ingredients provided, it is possible to go from level 1 cooking to roughly level 350. It is a good idea to start at either Stormwind (Alliance) or Undercity (Horde), then move to Ironforge or Orgrimmar, then back to Stormwind/Undercity then on to Darnassus or Thunderbluff then back to Ironforge/Orgimmar and Stormwind/Undercity and finally on to to Exodar or Silvermoon (no quests in this last city but it is needed for Spirit of Caring). Completing all the dailies will require criss-crossing between the cities. However, to reduce travel I would recommend that you do a minimum of 25 of each recipe and 30 for pumpkin pie and stuffing once you have access to the recipes, skill level and ingredients – as the quests require 5 of each item and the dailies 20 of each item. Also, I would suggest hunting at least 25 turkeys before leaving Stormwind/Undercity. If you are levelling your cooking (see below) you will probably need to do at least 60 of each recipe. Travel between ones faction’s capitals have become in some ways harder since the Shattering (portals have gone from Dalaran and Shattrath) and in some ways easier (direct flight paths and a portal between Exodar and Darnassus; direct boat route between Ruth’ven Village and Stormwind for instance).
Starter quests
- Pilgrim’s Bounty – a commoner in the major cities directs you to either Gregory Tabor in Stormwind (Alliance) or Miles Standish in Undercity (Horde)
- Sharing a Bountiful Feast – obtain the Spirit of Sharing buff by consuming 5 large helping of each of the 5 festival foods at the tables. This requires either sitting at each chair at the table (i.e. the pie chair, the turkey chair etc) and using the tool bar to consume each food 5 times and/or another player passing serves of the other foods to you and you to them while you sit at one of the chairs.
- Ask you to cook 5 helpings of one or more of the festival foods e.g. Spiced Bread Stuffing, Pumpkin Pie, Cranberry Chutney, Candied Sweet Potatoes, Wild Turkey, They are Ravenous in Darnassus (5 serves of spiced bread stuffing and pumpkin pie each) and then to take them to a named NPCs either in the city you pick up the quest or in another city. All the ingredients can be found at the different Pilgrim’s Bounty vendors (see below) with the exception of Turkey which drops from the numerous wild turkeys wandering throughout Elwynn Forest and Tirisfal Glades during the event.
Dailies
- There are five dailies (We’re Out of Cranberry Chutney Again, She Says Potato, Can’t Get Enough Turkey, Don’t forget the Stuffing, Easy as Pie) which ask you to prepare 20 servings of one of the festival foods and deliver it to one of the NPCs either in the city you pick up the quest or in another city.
Cooking progression
Cooking trainers, stoves, ingredients and recipes (all five are contained in Bountiful Cookbook) are conveniently available near the pilgrim tables.
- Spiced Bread Stuffing (requires level 1) uses another level 1 recipe Spiced Bread as a base. It can take your cooking to level 100+ (Ingredients available from all Pilgrim’s Bounty Vendors).
- Pumpkin Pie (requires 100) can take cooking from to 160+ (Ingredients available in Stormwind and Undercity)
- Cranberry sauce (requires 160) takes cooking skill from to 220+ (ingredients available in Ironforge and Orgrimmar)
- Candied Sweet Potato (220) takes cooking skill from to 280+ (ingredients available in Darnassus and Thunderbluff)
- Slow-roasted Turkey (requires 280) takes cooking skill from 280 to 345ish. The main ingredient comes from wild turkeys found in the forests of Elwynn Forest and Tirisfal Glades. Other ingredients are available at all Pilgrim’s bounty vendors.
Don’t forget to train before you hit your next skill cap (i.e. Journeyman Cook from 50-75; Expert Cook from 125-150; Artisan Cook from 200-225; Grand Master from 275-300).
Simply put, Pilgrim’s Bounty allows characters from the lowest levels to train from no cooking skill to Grand Master (300+) with the investment of a couple of hours and some gold (for training and ingredients) while getting experience and/or gold with the quests. It is also good preparation for the cooking recipes and tasks included in Winters Veil.
Yet the Pilgrim’s story has more to it than the eating one’s fill of traditional and delicious food in the company of friends and family. It is a celebration of the blessings of life – bountiful harvests, safe passage through dangerous seas, of friendship and help found in unexpected places, a determination to live in peace and harmony with one’s neighbours, of courage to live out what one believes and a respect for others as created equal by a bountiful God. Most of all, it is about have an attitude of thankfulness that can see beyond the difficulties encountered along life’s journey.
Kharin
