Winter Veil is probably the Azerothian festival I enjoy the most. Running over 18 days, Winter Veil is less time pressured than many of the other seasonal events, has some fun quests and interesting challenges, some cool companion pets and the distinct feel of celebration about it. After all, there is something nostalgic about checking the gifts under the tree, waiting impatiently until Christmas day and then opening the gaily wrapped packages to see what they contain. As usual Winter Veil is packed with goodies including companion pets (Red and Green Little Helpers, Snowman kit, Jingle Bell), festive goodies, quests and achievements (see below about quests and achievements).
Winter Veil clearly falls around the time and alludes to the major Western festival of Christmas (mistletoe, holly, gifts under the festively decorated fir trees, the garb and roles of Father Winter and his helpers, traditional Christmas foods, reindeer, the Greench etc). The date of Christmas is close to (though not exactly on) the date of the Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere (and the Summer Solstice in the Southern Hemisphere) and it was common in pre-Christian Europe and in East Asia to celebrate a festival in the very depths of winter in the hope that summer, light, warmth and growth would return to the world. In the quest line The Reason for the Season both Dwarven and Tauren Legends are cited to indicate that Winter Veil was a time to celebrate the land’s blanketing with snow by Great-Father Winter and the renewal of the land. The traditionalists lament that the Goblins have commercialised the season with “a bumbling fool in a red suit,” the giving of gifts and festival foods. This is the closest that Winter Veil gets to alluding to the other major reason that Christmas has been celebrated in the West over the last 2000 years – the birth of Jesus of Nazareth in the small hamlet of Bethlehem in Israel. Jesus was thought by many to be the long awaited Messiah (Christ) and he made radical claims about himself and announced a radical message about God’s love and forgiveness that got him offside with the religious authorities of the day. Despite his subsequent death at Roman hands, his followers claimed that he had risen from the dead, continuing to spread his movement and message and “turning the world upside down.” It is perhaps surprising that such an influential person, who is honoured, at least in name, by half the world’s population and respected by icons such as Mohammad, Mahatma Ghandi, Albert Einstein, Martin Luther King, the Dalai Lama and Mother Teresa, is so easily sidelined into obscurity. While Christians might claim that Jesus is the Reason for the Season, any allusions to the existence and influence of this world figure in the world of Azeroth are at best obscure, satirical and perhaps unwelcome – reflecting a major trend in popular, secular and neo-spiritual Western culture.
This guide will look at the quests, achievements and the changes from 2009.
Quests
Most of the quests for Winter Veil are required of or related to the achievements (see details below) except for the lead in quests Great-Father Winter is Here! and Winter Presents, also the Treats for Great-father Winter and the Reason for the Season quest line. The treats for Great-father Winter are a glass of milk and 5 Gingerbread Cookies. The cookies can easily be cooked from a recipe and ingredients purchased from the Smokeywood Pastures vendors and small eggs. The Reason for the Season quest line (minimum level 10) is given by Goli Krumn in the Commons, Ironforge (Alliance) or Fermund in the Valley of Strength (Horde), requires speaking to Historian Karnik in the Explorer’s League Library (Alliance) or Tauren Sargorne Creststrider in the Valley of Wisdom(Horde) and then taking a book on Winter Veil to Muradin Bronzebeard in the High Seat(Alliance) or Baine Bloodhoof in Thunderbluff (Horde).
Achievements
Scrooge , He Knows If You’ve Been Naughty, Bros. Before Ho Ho Ho’s(Alliance), Let It Snow and With a Little Helper from My Friends are reasonably simple and can mostly be done by lower level toons (the first two at level 1 while the others probably require level 15+).
- For Scrooge buy snow balls from the Smokey Pastures Goblin near Father Winter and then throw it at Muradin in the High Seat of Ironforge (Alliance) or in Bloodhoof in Thunderbluff (Horde). Snow balls can also be looted from piles of snow in Alterac and Dun Morgh.
- For He Knows If You’ve Been Naughty open one of the presents under the Tree next to Father Winter in either Ironforge or Orgrimmar. The presents can only be opened from Christmas Day onwards and then the number of presents that can be opened depend on your level (2 for level 1+, 4 for level 10+ including the MiniZep in 2010, 5 for level 20+ including a companion pet, and 6 for level 40+).
- Bros. Before Ho Ho Ho’s requires you to apply (right click) the mistletoe to a number of named “brothers” – priests or paladins. The mistletoe is one of the possible rewards you can receive from kissing a Winter Veil reveler under the mistletoe in the main inns. You can only do this once an hour, only receive 5 each time and may receive fresh holly or snowflakes instead so you may need to do this a few times. The mistletoe is soulbound . For alliance, five of the eight brothers can be found in the Stormwind Cathedral – Kristoff is in the courtyard in front of the Cathedral, Cassius is the Reagent vendor in the room with the first aid trainer, Benjamin and Joshua are in the main part of the Cathedral and Crowley is in the catacombs on the right; Wilhelm is the paladin trainer outside Goldshire smithy; Karman is the paladin training the troops outside the Keep in Theramore and Nimetz is at the Rebel Camp in Northern Stranglethorn. (A boat from Menethil Harbour on the coast of Wetlands goes to Theramore while the Rebel Camp can be reached from the Darkshire road going south.) (For Horde version see below). Brother Anton (in Nijel’s Point, Desolace, is no longer necessay for this achievement. Using the marco tar/brother with or without using raid icon is useful for locating the brothers.
- Let It Snow requires sprinkling specific race-class combinations (eg draeni priest, orc death knight etc) with a handful of snowflakes. The snowflakes like the holly are a possible reward from kissing a Winter Reveler under the mistletoe. The snowflakes are not soul bound but they are “conjured” so they can be traded but can’t be mailed. The main difficulty is finding the required combination, especially of the opposite faction. Dalaran may still be the best place to search, even though is virtually a ghost town since the portals were removed. Other possibilities include the busier factional cities (for your own faction), starting areas (for both your own and opposite faction), neutral cities such as booty bay or ratchet or the Argent Tournament, new questing areas such as Mount Hyjal, or battle grounds (e.g. Arathi Basin, Eye of the Storm or Alterac Valley etc).
- With a Little Helper from My Friends requires 50 honorable kills while transformed into a Little Helper from the PX-238 Winter Wondervolt machine. Machines are located in factional cities such as outside the gates of Ironforge, down the ramp from the Flightmaster in Stormwind (Alliance) or near the Ridemaster in Orgrimmar (Horde). They are also located in Goblin neutral towns such as Booty Bay and Gadgetzhan and in Runeweaver square, Dalaran. The 30 min buff is lost by death and/or shape shifting. This is a real pain for druids who use shape shifting (cat, bear, owlkin and tree form) as a necessary part of engaging in combat! It obviously also good if you can avoid death (not always possible in battlegrounds!) Possible strategies are to use a machine where you can go about some business while queuing or pursuing other parts of the achievement like Make it Snow (e.g. major city), queue for a battle ground (BG), either a specific one in which you are likely to get a large number of honourable kills without/before dying (eg Alterac Valley, or using a turret gun in Strand of the Ancients though probably not Wintergrasp any more due to low numbers turning up) or for a random BG. The advantage of a random BG is that you don’t queue as long. Keep in mind too that you will be booted from the BG if you are flagged inactive for too long (if you try to avoid combat in a “safe” place). Also there is a deserter’s buff for leaving a BG early which will lock you out of the queue for 15 mins. While it may be possible to get all 50 kills in one BG it is probable that you will have to queue more than once – not forgetting to transform into a Little Helper before you do. (If you do have some snowflakes on hand you may like to use this opportunity to use them for Let It Snow when appropriate.)
Simply Abominable, A Frosty Shake, The Winter Veil Gourmet and On Metzen! are not too difficult but they do require level 30+ to be able to complete.
- With A Frosty Shake you need to receive a Winter Veil Disguise Kit (sent in the mail 24 hrs after completing the Stolen Winter Treats quest line), a snowball or two (to be able to use the disguise kit), some way of getting to Dalaran (either fly, hearth or buy/beg a port) and another obliging dancing snowman to dance with you in your dancing snowman disguise.
- The Winter Veil Gourmet requires cooking three recipes (Gingerbread Cookies, Egg Nog and Hot Apple Cider which require level 1, 35 and 325 cooking skill respectively). The recipes and most of the ingredients can be obtained from the Goblins near Father Winter or other Smokeywood Pastures vendors in Stormwind or Thunderbluff. Of the two remaining ingredients, cold milk can be purchased from any drinks vendor while small eggs are a fairly common drop from flying birds and owlkin (levels 5-45ish). Westfall, Teldrassil and Mulgore are good places to go hunting for eggs. Alternatively, you can buy them at the Auction House or other players. It is possible for lower level toons to have the necessary high cooking skill, especially following Pilgrim’s Bounty, required by the recipe for Hot Apple Cider and can buy or recived as a gift from Great-Father Winter once your cooking skill is high enough. However, the sparkling apple cider (which is of temporary duration) needed can only be purchased from the vendor by toons level 35+ and is of temporary duration (so it can’t be mailed, placed in Guild Bank or Auction House though it it is possible it could be traded).
Edit: in 2011 the achievements Simply Abominable & On Metzen! have been combined into the daily quest You’re a Mean One (check Carolling the Greench) and is now restricted to level 80+.
- Simply Abominable requires finishing the Stolen Winter Treats quest line (minimum level is 30) received from the goblin near Father Winter. A delivery of Smokeywood Pastures Winter Treats has gone missing and it is your job to find where they are and retrieve them to save Winter Veil. Ride/Fly to the yeti area of Alterac Mountains (just south of the Ruins of Alterac in the Ogre area) and find the Strange Snowman in a clump of trees (the disguised Smokeywood Pastures delivery man) who will tell you the Abominable Greench (a 36 level elite Yeti like creature) has stolen the Treats. He spawns in a semicircle around the southern and western walls of the Alterac Ruins with a very short respawn time. Higher level players will find him easy to solo while lower level players will need help from other players to take him down. Return the Treats to Ironforge or Orgrimmar. You will then get a Smokeywood Pastures Thankyou gift from Father Winter to complete the questline and the achievement.
- On Metzen! This questline (received from the Goblin near Father Winter with a minimum requirement of level 40) requires you to save the Great-father Winter’s reindeer Metzen from the clutches of kidnappers. Don’t forget to open the package you receive from the quest giver to get a bundle of ransom letters and a pouch of reindeer dust. The letters hint two locations where the kidnapped reindeer may be found. Metzen can be found in a stable in the pirate compound of Cove in Tanaris (still there despite the sweeping away of Steamwheedle port and Zanjil’s Den in the sundering from the recent cataclysm.) He can also be found in the northern part of Searing Gorge near the canyon that leads to the Searing Gorge Gate. Once you find Metzen, deal with the kidnappers and then click on Metzen to sprinkle the dust and he will fly away. Return to the quest giver to complete the quest and the achievement.
Four more achievements (The Winter Veil Gourmet, ‘Tis the Season, Bros. Before Ho Ho Ho’s[Horde] and Fa-la-la-la-Ogri’la) normally require 60+ to complete and vary in complexity.
- Fa-la-la-la-Ogri’la is the most involved requirement of the Winter Veil achievements. It requires doing the Bomb Them Again quest (min level 70) in Blades Edge Mountains while your mount is transformed into a flying reindeer (by using either fresh or preserved holly) during the festival. Fresh holly (which is soulbound) comes from kissing winter revellers while crystallised holly (not soulbound) is a quest reward of Hero for the Day (a follow on from the Metzen questline).
As for the quest – in the past you were required to do 12 lead-in quests starting in Shattrath with Naara V’eru , then the ogre Grok in the lower city, and then the quests from the two-headed Ogre Wizzard Mog’dorg (standing on the tower east of the Circle of Blood) in the north-east of Blades Edge Mountains. Mog’dorg asks you to defeat and loot five hard hitting 70 elites before proclaiming you King or Queen of the ogres and sending you on to Ogril’la area in the north of Blades Edge Mountains This is no longer necessary to pick up the Bomb Them Again quest (as I found out after my pallie worked her way through them all this season) – though it is probably still necessary for completion of On Blade’s Edge and Loremaster of Outlands achievements. As of 2011, the 5 targets of these quests are no longer elite & are simple to defeat at level 70.
Attention: You can now fly from the Dark Portal straight to Ogri’la in western Blade’s Edge Mountains (between Forge Camp Wrath and Forge Camp:Terror) and speak to the ogre Chu’a’lor to get The Crystals quest (collect 5 Apexis shards from drops from mobs and also occasional lootable shards in the crystal clusters), once this is completed pick up Our Boy Wants To Be A Skyguard Ranger from the ogre Torkus. Collect another 10 apexis shards and use them in a Fel Crystalforges in one of the forge camps to get the Unstable Flask of the Beast. Hand in the quest. You should now get the The Skyguard Outpost from Chu’a'lor. Speak to Sky Commander Keller who will send you to Sky Sergeant Vanderlip. Vanderlip will give you the Bombing Run quest which, when completed, opens up the daily Bomb Them Again.
It is no longer necessary to do he Apexis Relic quest. If you do attempt it you need at least one Apexis shard , a pen/pencil and note paper. Start with the smaller peripheral crystals of the Apexis Relic structure and watch carefully which colours are activated, then repeat in exactly the same order. If you don’t you will be painfully zapped and have to start over again. Depending on how good your memory is the first 3-4 cycles are easy enough to remember but then it gets a bit more difficult. You have time to quickly write the sequence down using just the first letter of each color (e.g. RGGBYG would be Red, Green, Green, Blue, Yellow, Green).
For both the Bombing Run and Bomb Them Again, fly either north to Forge Camp:Wrath or south to Forge Camp: Terror and target 15 Fel Cannonball Stacks while avoiding being hit by the Fel Cannons. Swoop down into range, target the cannon balls (note green arrows) and then move on changing direction as soon as you launch the bomb. The more you keep moving and take evasive action (while avoiding veering into the flak), the less likely the cannons are to hit you though the flak isn’t as lethal as it once was. You don’t actually need to use the holly while doing the run though I think that is part of the fun of this achievement but do remember to use it before handing in the daily to get the achievement.
- Bros. Before Ho Ho Ho’s (Horde) also requires you to apply (right click) the mistletoe (gained from kissing Winter Veil revelers – see above) to a number of named “brothers.” While the Horde only need 3 brothers (compared with the 8 for Alliance), one in particular would normally only be accessible for higher level toons. Brother Malach is in the WarQuarter in Undercity and Durkot Wolfbrother is Stable Master and is on the lower floor Warsong Hold where the wolves are kept. Warsong Hold is in Borean Tundra Northrend which can be reached by the Zeppelin leaving Orgrimmar. The path from zeppelin tower to the Hold (go down the ramp and then turn left, past the pig pen to the middle level) is not exactly safe for lower level toons so it may require a corpse run. Brother Keltan is on the Airship Ogrim’s Hammer that flies around Icecrown in Northrend. This can only be reached by flying mount (needs Cold Weather Flying obtained at 77) or with the quest Preparations for War (min level requirement 77). Warlock summons will not work on the Airship for toons lower than 77 though apparently dying on a peak on the border of Stormpeaks, flying above your body in flying ghost form so tha you can rez on one of the cannon platforms as the Airship goes past can work for toons lower than 77. Using the marco tar/brother is useful except for Durkot (use /tar durkot in his case).
- ‘Tis the Season requires eating Graccu’s Mince Meat Fruitcake while wearing three pieces of Winter Veil clothing. The Fruitcake will be sent in the mail as part of a thank you gifts for completing questlines. The coat and the boots of either color can be made by tailors (skill level 250) and leather makers (level 285) respectively. While the recipes are soulbound, the items are not so they can be posted to alts, put in the Guild Bank, traded or bought of Auction House. The difficulty is in obtaining the Red or Green Winter hats which are soulbound. The hats are very rare world drop (one of my alts got it from a low level mob in Bloodmyst Isle). The hats also drop from certain instance bosses. In Cataclysm instances it drops from Admiral Ripsnarl in heroic Deadmines, High Priestess Azil in the Stone Core (H & N), Corla Herald of Twilight in Blackrock Caverns(H & N), Lord Godfrey in Shadowfang Keep (H) and Drahga Shadowburner in Grim Batol (H & N). [In 2010 the hats in Northrend the red one drops from Grand Magus Telestra in the Nexus and Jedoga Shadowseeker in Aha'kahet Old Kingdom while the green drops from Mage Lord Urom in Occulus (WoTLK). While in 2009 the hats from the Northrend bosses could drop from both Heroic and Normal modes, in 2010 they seem only to drop in Heroic mode (this may only be if you have the Cataclysm expansion). ] A word of warning for 2011, check the durability of your Winter coat & Winter boots before attempting ‘Tis the Season. The clothes may be at zero durability if you have had them stored in the bank from previous years. In which case you will NOT get the achievement. This is particularly frustrating if you have only one piece of Graccu’s Mince Meat Fruitcake!
All the above achievements are necessary to complete the Merrymaker achievement and title and to count towards What a Long Strange Trip It Has Been and the violet proto-drake. Two other achievements are possible Crashin’ & Thrashin’ (get 25 crashes from your Crashin’ & Thrashin’ racer – which was a gift under the tree in 2008) and BB King (pelt the enemy factional leaders with your BB gun – a gift in 2009).
Wishing you all a Christmas season full of joy, peace and love – as we celebrate with our families, give and receive gifts, enjoy those special treats, share memories, think of those who for one reason or another cannot be with us – and remember the baby born into obscurity who radically changed the world and demonstrated the depth of God’s love for us all.
Kharin
Saving Winter Veil
Winter Veil is probably the Azerothian festival I enjoy the most. Running over 18 days, Winter Veil is less time pressured than many of the other seasonal events, has some fun quests and interesting challenges, some cool companion pets and the distinct feel of celebration about it. After all, there is something nostalgic about checking the gifts under the tree, waiting impatiently until Christmas day and then opening the gaily wrapped packages to see what they contain. This year Winter Veil has hardly changed at all from previous years – perhaps there are not as many people doing the quests or chasing the achievements as in previous years with the recent release of the new Cataclysm content. Still, this year we get a new cool remote controlled toy (MiniZep Controller) and a change to the distribution to the Red and Green Winter Veil’s hat, streamlining of the requirements for Bomb Them Again, as well as the usual companion pets (Red and Green Little Helpers, Snowman kit, Jingle Bell), festive goodies, quests and achievements (see below).
Winter Veil clearly falls around the time and alludes to the major Western festival of Christmas (mistletoe, holly, gifts under the festively decorated fir trees, the garb and roles of Father Winter and his helpers, traditional Christmas foods, reindeer, the Greench etc). The date of Christmas is close to (though not exactly on) the date of the Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere (and the Summer Solstice in the Southern Hemisphere) and it was common in pre-Christian Europe to celebrate a festival in the very depths of winter in the hope that summer, light, warmth and growth would return to the world. In the quest line The Reason for the Season both Dwarven and Tauren Legends are cited to indicate that Winter Veil was a time to celebrate the land’s blanketing with snow by Great-Father Winter and the renewal of the land. The traditionalists lament that the Goblins have commercialised the season with “a bumbling fool in a red suit,” the giving of gifts and festival foods. This is the closest that Winter Veil gets to alluding to the other major reason that Christmas has been celebrated in the West over the last 2000 years – the birth of Jesus of Nazareth in the small hamlet of Bethlehem in Israel. Jesus was thought by many to be the long awaited Messiah (Christ) and he made radical claims about himself and announced a radical message about God’s love and forgiveness that got him offside with the religious authorities of the day. Despite his subsequent death at Roman hands, his followers claimed that he had risen from the dead, continuing to spread his movement and message and “turning the world upside down.” It is perhaps surprising that such an influential person, who is honoured, at least in name, by half the world’s population and respected by icons such as Mohammad, Mahatma Ghandi, Albert Einstein, Martin Luther King, the Dalai Lama and Mother Teresa, is so easily sidelined into obscurity. While Christians might claim that Jesus is the Reason for the Season, any allusions to the existence and influence of this world figure in the world of Azeroth are at best obscure, satirical and perhaps unwelcome – reflecting a major trend in popular, secular and neo-spiritual Western culture.
Quests
Most of the quests for Winter Veil are required of or related to the achievements (see details below) except for the lead in quests Great-Father Winter is Here! and Winter Presents, also the Treats for Great-father Winter and the Reason for the Season quest line. The treats for Great-father Winter are a glass of milk and 5 Gingerbread Cookies. The cookies can easily be cooked from a recipe and ingredients purchased from the Smokeywood Pastures vendors and small eggs. The Reason for the Season quest line (minimum level 10) is given by Goli Krumn in the Commons, Ironforge (Alliance) or Fermund in the Valley of Strength (Horde), requires speaking to Historian Karnik in the Explorer’s League Library (Alliance) or Tauren Sargorne Creststrider in the Valley of Wisdom(Horde) and then taking a book of lore on Winter’s Veil to Muradin Bronzebeard in the High Seat(Alliance) or Baine Bloodhoof in Thunderbluff (Horde).
Achievements
Scrooge , He Knows If You’ve Been Naughty, Bros. Before Ho Ho Ho’s(Alliance), Let It Snow and With a Little Helper from My Friends are reasonably simple and can mostly be done by lower level toons (the first two at level 1 while the others probably require level 15+).
- For Scrooge buy snow balls from the Smokey Pastures Goblin near Father Winter and then throw it at Muradin in the High Seat of Ironforge (Alliance) or in Bloodhoof in Thunderbluff (Horde).
- For He Knows If You’ve Been Naughty open one of the presents under the Tree next to Father Winter in either Ironforge or Orgrimmar. The presents can only be opened from Christmas Day onwards and then the number of presents that can be opened depend on your level (2 for level 1+, 4 for level 10+ including the MiniZep in 2010, 5 for level 20+ including a companion pet, and 6 for level 40+).
- Bros. Before Ho Ho Ho’s requires you to apply (right click) the mistletoe to a number of named “brothers” – priests or paladins. The mistletoe is one of the possible rewards you can receive from kissing a Winter Veil reveler under the mistletoe in the main inns. You can only do this once an hour, only receive 5 each time and may receive fresh holly or snowflakes instead so you may need to do this a few times. The mistletoe is soulbound . For alliance, five of the eight brothers can be found in the Stormwind Cathedral – Kristoff is in the courtyard in front of the Cathedral, Cassius is the Reagent vendor in the room with the first aid trainer, Benjamin and Joshua are in the main part of the Cathedral and Crowley is in the basement; Wilhelm is the paladin trainer outside Goldshire smithy; Karman is the paladin training the troops outside the Keep in Theramore and Nimetz is at the Rebel Camp in Northern Stranglethorn. (A boat from Menethil Harbour on the coast of Wetlands goes to Theramore while the Rebel Camp can be reached from the Darkshire road going south.) (For Horde version see below).
- Let It Snow requires sprinkling specific race-class combinations (eg blood elf warlock, draeni priest, dwarf paladin, gnome mage, human warrior, night elf druid, orc death knight, tauren shaman, troll hunter, undead rogue ) with a handful of snowflakes. The snowflakes like the holly are a possible reward from kissing a Winter Veil reveler under the mistletoe. The snowflakes are not soul bound but they are “conjured” so they can be traded but can’t be mailed. The main difficulty is finding the required combination, especially of the opposite faction. Dalaran may still be the best place to search, even though is virtually a ghost town since the portals were removed. Other possibilities include the busier factional cities (for your own faction), starting areas (for both your own and opposite faction), neutral cities such as booty bay or ratchet or the Argent Tournament, new questing areas such as Mount Hyjal, or battle grounds (e.g. Arathi Basin, Eye of the Storm or Alterac Valley etc).
- With a Little Helper from My Friends requires 50 honorable kills while transformed into a Little Helper from the PX-238 Winter Wondervolt machine. Machines are located in factional cities such as outside the gates of Ironforge, down the ramp from the Flightmaster in Stormwind (Alliance) or near the Ridemaster in Orgrimmar (Horde). They are also located in Goblin neutral towns such as Booty Bay and Gadgetzhan and in Runeweaver square, Dalaran. The 30 min buff is lost by death and/or shape shifting. This is a real pain for druids who use shape shifting (cat, bear, owlkin and tree form) as a necessary part of engaging in combat! It obviously also good if you can avoid death (not always possible in battlegrounds!) Possible strategies are to use a machine where you can go about some business while queuing or pursuing other parts of the achievement like Make it Snow (e.g. major city), queue for a battle ground (BG), either a specific one in which you are likely to get a large number of honourable kills without/before dying (eg Alterac Valley, or using a turret gun in Strand of the Ancients though probably not Wintergrasp any more due to low numbers turning up) or for a random BG. The advantage of a random BG is that you don’t queue as long. Keep in mind too that you will be booted from the BG if you are flagged inactive for too long (if you try to avoid combat in a “safe” place). Also there is a deserter’s buff for leaving a BG early which will lock you out of the queue for 15 mins. While it may be possible to get all 50 kills in one BG it is probable that you will have to queue more than once – not forgetting to transform into a Little Helper before you do. (If you do have some snowflakes on hand you may like to use this opportunity to use them for Let It Snow when appropriate.)
Simply Abominable, A Frosty Shake, The Winter Veil Gourmet and On Metzen! are not too difficult but they do require level 30+ to be able to complete.
- Simply Abominable requires finishing the Stolen Winter Treats quest line (minimum level is 30) received from the goblin near Father Winter. A delivery of Smokeywood Pastures Winter Treats has gone missing and it is your job to find where they are and retrieve them to save Winter Veil. Ride/Fly to the yeti area of Alterac Mountains (just south of the Ruins of Alterac in the Ogre area) and find the Strange Snowman in a clump of trees (the disguised Smokeywood Pastures delivery man) who will tell you the Abominable Greench (a 36 level elite Yeti like creature) has stolen the Treats. He spawns in a semicircle around the southern and western walls of the Alterac Ruins with a very short respawn time. Higher level players will find him easy to solo while lower level players will need help from other players to take him down. Return the Treats to Ironforge or Orgrimmar. You will then get a Smokeywood Pastures Thankyou gift from Father Winter to complete the questline and the achievement.
- With A Frosty Shake you need to receive a Winter Veil Disguise Kit (sent in the mail 24 hrs after completing the Stolen Winter Treats quest line), a snowball or two (to be able to use the disguise kit), some way of getting to Dalaran (either fly, hearth or buy/beg a port) and another obliging dancing snowman to dance with you in your dancing snowman disguise.
- The Winter Veil Gourmet requires cooking three recipes (Gingerbread Cookies, Egg Nog and Hot Apple Cider which require level 1, 35 and 325 cooking skill respectively). The recipes and most of the ingredients can be obtained from the Goblins near Father Winter or other Smokeywood Pastures vendors in Stormwind or Thunderbluff. Of the two remaining ingredients, cold milk can be purchased from any drinks vendor while small eggs are a fairly common drop from flying birds and owlkin (levels 5-35ish). Westfall, Teldrassil and Mulgore are good places to go hunting for eggs. Alternatively, you can buy them at the Auction House. While it is possible for lower level toons to have the necessary high cooking skill, especially following Pilgrim’s Bounty, the sparkling apple cider (which is soulbound) needed for the Hot Apple Cider recipe can only be purchased from the vendor by toons level 35+.
- On Metzen! This questline (received from the Goblin near Father Winter with a minimum requirement of level 40) requires you to save the red nosed reindeer Metzen from the clutches of kidnappers. Don’t forget to open the package you receive from the quest giver to get a bundle of ransom letters and a pouch of reindeer dust. The letters hint two locations where the kidnapped reindeer may be found. Metzen can be found in a stable in the pirate compound of Cove in Tanaris (still there despite the sweeping away of Steamwheedle port and Zanjil’s Den in the sundering from the recent cataclysm.) He can also be found in the northern part of Searing Gorge near the canyon that leads to the Searing Gorge Gate. Once you find Metzen, deal with the kidnappers and then click on Metzen to sprinkle the dust and he will fly away. Return to the quest giver to complete the quest and the achievement.
Four more achievements (The Winter Veil Gourmet, ‘Tis the Season, Bros. Before Ho Ho Ho’s[Horde] and Fa-la-la-la-Ogri’la) normally require 60+ to complete and vary in complexity.
- Fa-la-la-la-Ogri’la is the most involved requirement of the Winter Veil achievements. It requires doing the Bomb Them Again quest in Blades Edge Mountains while your mount is transformed into a flying reindeer (by using either fresh or crystallized holly) during the festival. Fresh holly (which is soulbound) comes from kissing winter revellers while crystallised holly (not soulbound) is a quest reward of Hero for the Day (a follow on from the Metzen questline).
As for the quest – in the past you were required to do 12 lead-in quests starting in Shattrath with Naara V’eru , then the ogre Grok in the lower city, and then the quests from the two-headed Ogre Wizzard Mog’dorg (standing on the tower east of the Ring of Blood) in the north-east of Blades Edge Mountains. Mog’dorg asks you to defeat and loot five hard hitting 70 elites before proclaiming you King or Queen of the ogres and sending you on to Ogril’la area in the north of Blades Edge Mountains This is no longer necessary to pick up the Bomb Them Again quest (as I found out after my pallie worked her way through them all this season) – though it is probably still necessary for completion of On Blade’s Edge and Loremaster of Outlands achievements.
Attention: Now you fly from the Dark Portal straight to Ogri’la in western Blade’s Edge Mountains (between Forge Camp Wrath and Forge Camp:Terror) and speak to the ogre Chu’a’lor to get The Crystals quest (collect 5 Apexis shards from drops from mobs and also occasional lootable shards in the crystal clusters), once this is completed pick up Our Boy Wants To Be A Skyguard Ranger from the ogre Torkus. Collect another 10 apexis shards and use them in one of the machine in one of the forge camps to get the Unstable Flask of the Beast. Hand in the quest. You should now get the The Skyguard Outpost from Chu’a'lor (though my pallie didn’t get this quest until she completed The Apexis Relic Quest as well). Speak to Sky Commander Keller who will send you to Sky Sergeant Vanderlip. Vanderlip will give you the Bombing Run quest which, when completed, opens up the daily Bomb Them Again.
For the Apexis Relic you need at least one Apexis shard , a pen/pencil and note paper. Start with the smaller peripheral crystals and watch carefully which colours are activated, then repeat in exactly the same order. If you don’t you will be painfully zapped and have to start over again. Depending on how good your memory is the first 3-4 cycles are easy enough to remember but then it gets a bit more difficult. You have time to quickly write the sequence down using just the first letter of each color (e.g. RGGBYG would be Red, Green, Green, Blue, Yellow, Green).
For both the Bombing Run and Bomb Them Again, fly either north to Forge Camp:Wrath or south to Forge Camp: Terror and target 15 Fel Cannonball Stacks while avoiding being hit by the Fel Cannons. Come in high, swooping down into range once you have the cannon balls in your sights. There is no need to wait once you have clicked and the more you keep moving and take evasive action (while avoiding veering into the flak), the less likely the cannons are to hit you. You don’t actually need to use the holly while doing the run though I think that is part of the fun of this achievement but do remember to use it before handing in the daily to get the achievement.
- Bros. Before Ho Ho Ho’s (Horde) also requires you to apply (right click) the mistletoe (gained from kissing Winter Veil revelers – see above) to a number of named “brothers.” While the Horde only need 3 brothers (compared with the 8 for Alliance), one in particular would normally only be accessible for higher level toons. Brother Malach is in the WarQuarter in Undercity and Durkot Wolfbrother is Stable Master and is on the lower floor Warsong Hold where the wolves are kept. Warsong Hold is in Borean Tundra Northrend which can be reached by the Zeppelin leaving Orgrimmar. The path from zeppelin tower to the Hold (go down the ramp and then turn right, past the pig pen to the middle level) is not exactly safe for lower level toons so it may require a corpse run. Brother Keltan is on the Airship Ogrim’s Hammer that flies around Icecrown in Northrend. This can only be reached by flying mount (needs Cold Weather Flying obtained at 77) or with the quest Preparations for War (min level requirement 77).
- ‘Tis the Season requires eating Graccu’s Mince Meat Fruitcake while wearing three pieces of Winter Veil clothing. The Fruitcake will be sent in the mail as part of a thank you gifts for completing questlines. The coat and the boots of either color can be made by tailors (skill level 250) and leather makers (level 285) respectively. While the recipes are soulbound, the items are not so they can be posted to alts, put in the Guild Bank, traded or bought of Auction House. The difficulty is in obtaining the Red or Green Winter hats which are soulbound. The hats are very rare world drop (one of my alts got it from a low level mob in Bloodmyst Isle). The hats also drop from certain instance bosses. In Northrend the red one drops from Grand Magus Telestra in the Nexus and Jedoga Shadowseeker in Anahkahet Old Kingdom while the green drops from Mage Lord Urom in Occulus (WoTLK). While last year the hats from the Northrend bosses could drop from both Heroic and Normal modes, this year they seem only to drop in Heroic mode (this may only be if you have the Cataclysm expansion). In Cataclysm instances it drops from Admiral Ripsnarl in heroic Deadmines, High Priestess Azil in the Stone Core (H & N), Corla Herald of Twilight in Blackrock Caverns(H & N), Lord Godfrey in Shadowfang Keep (H) and Drahga Shadowburner in Grim Batol (H & N). .
All the above achievements are necessary to complete the Merrymaker achievement and title and to count towards What a Long Strange Trip It Has Been and the violet proto-drake. Two other achievements are possible Crashin’ & Thrashin’ (get 25 crashes from your Crashin’ & Thrashin’ racer – which was a gift under the tree in 2008) and BB King (pelt the enemy factional
Saving Winter Veil
Winter Veil is probably the Azerothian festival I enjoy the most. Running over 18 days, Winter Veil is less time pressured than many of the other seasonal events, has some fun quests and interesting challenges, some cool companion pets and the distinct feel of celebration about it. After all, there is something nostalgic about checking the gifts under the tree, waiting impatiently until Christmas day and then opening the gaily wrapped packages to see what they contain. This year Winter Veil has hardly changed at all from previous years – perhaps there are not as many people doing the quests or chasing the achievements as in previous years with the recent release of the new Cataclysm content. Still, this year we get a new cool remote controlled toy (MiniZep Controller) and a change to the distribution to the Red and Green Winter Veil’s hat, streamlining of the requirements for Bomb Them Again, as well as the usual companion pets (Red and Green Little Helpers, Snowman kit, Jingle Bell), festive goodies, quests and achievements (see below).
Winter Veil clearly falls around the time and alludes to the major Western festival of Christmas (mistletoe, holly, gifts under the festively decorated fir trees, the garb and roles of Father Winter and his helpers, traditional Christmas foods, reindeer, the Greench etc). The date of Christmas is close to (though not exactly on) the date of the Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere (and the Summer Solstice in the Southern Hemisphere) and it was common in pre-Christian Europe to celebrate a festival in the very depths of winter in the hope that summer, light, warmth and growth would return to the world. In the quest line The Reason for the Season both Dwarven and Tauren Legends are cited to indicate that Winter Veil was a time to celebrate the land’s blanketing with snow by Great-Father Winter and the renewal of the land. The traditionalists lament that the Goblins have commercialised the season with “a bumbling fool in a red suit,” the giving of gifts and festival foods. This is the closest that Winter Veil gets to alluding to the other major reason that Christmas has been celebrated in the West over the last 2000 years – the birth of Jesus of Nazareth in the small hamlet of Bethlehem in Israel. Jesus was thought by many to be the long awaited Messiah (Christ) and he made radical claims about himself and announced a radical message about God’s love and forgiveness that got him offside with the religious authorities of the day. Despite his subsequent death at Roman hands, his followers claimed that he had risen from the dead, continuing to spread his movement and message and “turning the world upside down.” It is perhaps surprising that such an influential person, who is honoured, at least in name, by half the world’s population and respected by icons such as Mohammad, Mahatma Ghandi, Albert Einstein, Martin Luther King, the Dalai Lama and Mother Teresa, is so easily sidelined into obscurity. While Christians might claim that Jesus is the Reason for the Season, any allusions to the existence and influence of this world figure in the world of Azeroth are at best obscure, satirical and perhaps unwelcome – reflecting a major trend in popular, secular and neo-spiritual Western culture.
Quests
Most of the quests for Winter Veil are required of or related to the achievements (see details below) except for the lead in quests Great-Father Winter is Here! and Winter Presents, also the Treats for Great-father Winter and the Reason for the Season quest line. The treats for Great-father Winter are a glass of milk and 5 Gingerbread Cookies. The cookies can easily be cooked from a recipe and ingredients purchased from the Smokeywood Pastures vendors and small eggs. The Reason for the Season quest line (minimum level 10) is given by Goli Krumn in the Commons, Ironforge (Alliance) or Fermund in the Valley of Strength (Horde), requires speaking to Historian Karnik in the Explorer’s League Library (Alliance) or Tauren Sargorne Creststrider in the Valley of Wisdom(Horde) and then taking a book of lore on Winter’s Veil to Muradin Bronzebeard in the High Seat(Alliance) or Baine Bloodhoof in Thunderbluff (Horde).
Achievements
Scrooge , He Knows If You’ve Been Naughty, Bros. Before Ho Ho Ho’s(Alliance), Let It Snow and With a Little Helper from My Friends are reasonably simple and can mostly be done by lower level toons (the first two at level 1 while the others probably require level 15+).
- For Scrooge buy snow balls from the Smokey Pastures Goblin near Father Winter and then throw it at Muradin in the High Seat of Ironforge (Alliance) or in Bloodhoof in Thunderbluff (Horde).
- For He Knows If You’ve Been Naughty open one of the presents under the Tree next to Father Winter in either Ironforge or Orgrimmar. The presents can only be opened from Christmas Day onwards and then the number of presents that can be opened depend on your level (2 for level 1+, 4 for level 10+ including the MiniZep in 2010, 5 for level 20+ including a companion pet, and 6 for level 40+).
- Bros. Before Ho Ho Ho’s requires you to apply (right click) the mistletoe to a number of named “brothers” – priests or paladins. The mistletoe is one of the possible rewards you can receive from kissing a Winter Veil reveler under the mistletoe in the main inns. You can only do this once an hour, only receive 5 each time and may receive fresh holly or snowflakes instead so you may need to do this a few times. The mistletoe is soulbound . For alliance, five of the eight brothers can be found in the Stormwind Cathedral – Kristoff is in the courtyard in front of the Cathedral, Cassius is the Reagent vendor in the room with the first aid trainer, Benjamin and Joshua are in the main part of the Cathedral and Crowley is in the basement; Wilhelm is the paladin trainer outside Goldshire smithy; Karman is the paladin training the troops outside the Keep in Theramore and Nimetz is at the Rebel Camp in Northern Stranglethorn. (A boat from Menethil Harbour on the coast of Wetlands goes to Theramore while the Rebel Camp can be reached from the Darkshire road going south.) (For Horde version see below).
- Let It Snow requires sprinkling specific race-class combinations (eg blood elf warlock, draeni priest, dwarf paladin, gnome mage, human warrior, night elf druid, orc death knight, tauren shaman, troll hunter, undead rogue ) with a handful of snowflakes. The snowflakes like the holly are a possible reward from kissing a Winter Veil reveler under the mistletoe. The snowflakes are not soul bound but they are “conjured” so they can be traded but can’t be mailed. The main difficulty is finding the required combination, especially of the opposite faction. Dalaran may still be the best place to search, even though is virtually a ghost town since the portals were removed. Other possibilities include the busier factional cities (for your own faction), starting areas (for both your own and opposite faction), neutral cities such as booty bay or ratchet or the Argent Tournament, new questing areas such as Mount Hyjal, or battle grounds (e.g. Arathi Basin, Eye of the Storm or Alterac Valley etc).
- With a Little Helper from My Friends requires 50 honorable kills while transformed into a Little Helper from the PX-238 Winter Wondervolt machine. Machines are located in factional cities such as outside the gates of Ironforge, down the ramp from the Flightmaster in Stormwind (Alliance) or near the Ridemaster in Orgrimmar (Horde). They are also located in Goblin neutral towns such as Booty Bay and Gadgetzhan and in Runeweaver square, Dalaran. The 30 min buff is lost by death and/or shape shifting. This is a real pain for druids who use shape shifting (cat, bear, owlkin and tree form) as a necessary part of engaging in combat! It obviously also good if you can avoid death (not always possible in battlegrounds!) Possible strategies are to use a machine where you can go about some business while queuing or pursuing other parts of the achievement like Make it Snow (e.g. major city), queue for a battle ground (BG), either a specific one in which you are likely to get a large number of honourable kills without/before dying (eg Alterac Valley, or using a turret gun in Strand of the Ancients though probably not Wintergrasp any more due to low numbers turning up) or for a random BG. The advantage of a random BG is that you don’t queue as long. Keep in mind too that you will be booted from the BG if you are flagged inactive for too long (if you try to avoid combat in a “safe” place). Also there is a deserter’s buff for leaving a BG early which will lock you out of the queue for 15 mins. While it may be possible to get all 50 kills in one BG it is probable that you will have to queue more than once – not forgetting to transform into a Little Helper before you do. (If you do have some snowflakes on hand you may like to use this opportunity to use them for Let It Snow when appropriate.)
Simply Abominable, A Frosty Shake, The Winter Veil Gourmet and On Metzen! are not too difficult but they do require level 30+ to be able to complete.
- Simply Abominable requires finishing the Stolen Winter Treats quest line (minimum level is 30) received from the goblin near Father Winter. A delivery of Smokeywood Pastures Winter Treats has gone missing and it is your job to find where they are and retrieve them to save Winter Veil. Ride/Fly to the yeti area of Alterac Mountains (just south of the Ruins of Alterac in the Ogre area) and find the Strange Snowman in a clump of trees (the disguised Smokeywood Pastures delivery man) who will tell you the Abominable Greench (a 36 level elite Yeti like creature) has stolen the Treats. He spawns in a semicircle around the southern and western walls of the Alterac Ruins with a very short respawn time. Higher level players will find him easy to solo while lower level players will need help from other players to take him down. Return the Treats to Ironforge or Orgrimmar. You will then get a Smokeywood Pastures Thankyou gift from Father Winter to complete the questline and the achievement.
- With A Frosty Shake you need to receive a Winter Veil Disguise Kit (sent in the mail 24 hrs after completing the Stolen Winter Treats quest line), a snowball or two (to be able to use the disguise kit), some way of getting to Dalaran (either fly, hearth or buy/beg a port) and another obliging dancing snowman to dance with you in your dancing snowman disguise.
- The Winter Veil Gourmet requires cooking three recipes (Gingerbread Cookies, Egg Nog and Hot Apple Cider which require level 1, 35 and 325 cooking skill respectively). The recipes and most of the ingredients can be obtained from the Goblins near Father Winter or other Smokeywood Pastures vendors in Stormwind or Thunderbluff. Of the two remaining ingredients, cold milk can be purchased from any drinks vendor while small eggs are a fairly common drop from flying birds and owlkin (levels 5-35ish). Westfall, Teldrassil and Mulgore are good places to go hunting for eggs. Alternatively, you can buy them at the Auction House. While it is possible for lower level toons to have the necessary high cooking skill, especially following Pilgrim’s Bounty, the sparkling apple cider (which is soulbound) needed for the Hot Apple Cider recipe can only be purchased from the vendor by toons level 35+.
- On Metzen! This questline (received from the Goblin near Father Winter with a minimum requirement of level 40) requires you to save the red nosed reindeer Metzen from the clutches of kidnappers. Don’t forget to open the package you receive from the quest giver to get a bundle of ransom letters and a pouch of reindeer dust. The letters hint two locations where the kidnapped reindeer may be found. Metzen can be found in a stable in the pirate compound of Cove in Tanaris (still there despite the sweeping away of Steamwheedle port and Zanjil’s Den in the sundering from the recent cataclysm.) He can also be found in the northern part of Searing Gorge near the canyon that leads to the Searing Gorge Gate. Once you find Metzen, deal with the kidnappers and then click on Metzen to sprinkle the dust and he will fly away. Return to the quest giver to complete the quest and the achievement.
Four more achievements (The Winter Veil Gourmet, ‘Tis the Season, Bros. Before Ho Ho Ho’s[Horde] and Fa-la-la-la-Ogri’la) normally require 60+ to complete and vary in complexity.
- Fa-la-la-la-Ogri’la is the most involved requirement of the Winter Veil achievements. It requires doing the Bomb Them Again quest in Blades Edge Mountains while your mount is transformed into a flying reindeer (by using either fresh or crystallized holly) during the festival. Fresh holly (which is soulbound) comes from kissing winter revellers while crystallised holly (not soulbound) is a quest reward of Hero for the Day (a follow on from the Metzen questline).
As for the quest – in the past you were required to do 12 lead-in quests starting in Shattrath with Naara V’eru , then the ogre Grok in the lower city, and then the quests from the two-headed Ogre Wizzard Mog’dorg (standing on the tower east of the Ring of Blood) in the north-east of Blades Edge Mountains. Mog’dorg asks you to defeat and loot five hard hitting 70 elites before proclaiming you King or Queen of the ogres and sending you on to Ogril’la area in the north of Blades Edge Mountains This is no longer necessary to pick up the Bomb Them Again quest (as I found out after my pallie worked her way through them all this season) – though it is probably still necessary for completion of On Blade’s Edge and Loremaster of Outlands achievements.
Attention: Now you fly from the Dark Portal straight to Ogri’la in western Blade’s Edge Mountains (between Forge Camp Wrath and Forge Camp:Terror) and speak to the ogre Chu’a’lor to get The Crystals quest (collect 5 Apexis shards from drops from mobs and also occasional lootable shards in the crystal clusters), once this is completed pick up Our Boy Wants To Be A Skyguard Ranger from the ogre Torkus. Collect another 10 apexis shards and use them in one of the machine in one of the forge camps to get the Unstable Flask of the Beast. Hand in the quest. You should now get the The Skyguard Outpost from Chu’a'lor (though my pallie didn’t get this quest until she completed The Apexis Relic Quest as well). Speak to Sky Commander Keller who will send you to Sky Sergeant Vanderlip. Vanderlip will give you the Bombing Run quest which, when completed, opens up the daily Bomb Them Again.
For the Apexis Relic you need at least one Apexis shard , a pen/pencil and note paper. Start with the smaller peripheral crystals and watch carefully which colours are activated, then repeat in exactly the same order. If you don’t you will be painfully zapped and have to start over again. Depending on how good your memory is the first 3-4 cycles are easy enough to remember but then it gets a bit more difficult. You have time to quickly write the sequence down using just the first letter of each color (e.g. RGGBYG would be Red, Green, Green, Blue, Yellow, Green).
For both the Bombing Run and Bomb Them Again, fly either north to Forge Camp:Wrath or south to Forge Camp: Terror and target 15 Fel Cannonball Stacks while avoiding being hit by the Fel Cannons. Come in high, swooping down into range once you have the cannon balls in your sights. There is no need to wait once you have clicked and the more you keep moving and take evasive action (while avoiding veering into the flak), the less likely the cannons are to hit you. You don’t actually need to use the holly while doing the run though I think that is part of the fun of this achievement but do remember to use it before handing in the daily to get the achievement.
- Bros. Before Ho Ho Ho’s (Horde) also requires you to apply (right click) the mistletoe (gained from kissing Winter Veil revelers – see above) to a number of named “brothers.” While the Horde only need 3 brothers (compared with the 8 for Alliance), one in particular would normally only be accessible for higher level toons. Brother Malach is in the WarQuarter in Undercity and Durkot Wolfbrother is Stable Master and is on the lower floor Warsong Hold where the wolves are kept. Warsong Hold is in Borean Tundra Northrend which can be reached by the Zeppelin leaving Orgrimmar. The path from zeppelin tower to the Hold (go down the ramp and then turn right, past the pig pen to the middle level) is not exactly safe for lower level toons so it may require a corpse run. Brother Keltan is on the Airship Ogrim’s Hammer that flies around Icecrown in Northrend. This can only be reached by flying mount (needs Cold Weather Flying obtained at 77) or with the quest Preparations for War (min level requirement 77).
- ‘Tis the Season requires eating Graccu’s Mince Meat Fruitcake while wearing three pieces of Winter Veil clothing. The Fruitcake will be sent in the mail as part of a thank you gifts for completing questlines. The coat and the boots of either color can be made by tailors (skill level 250) and leather makers (level 285) respectively. While the recipes are soulbound, the items are not so they can be posted to alts, put in the Guild Bank, traded or bought of Auction House. The difficulty is in obtaining the Red or Green Winter hats which are soulbound. The hats are very rare world drop (one of my alts got it from a low level mob in Bloodmyst Isle). The hats also drop from certain instance bosses. In Northrend the red one drops from Grand Magus Telestra in the Nexus and Jedoga Shadowseeker in Anahkahet Old Kingdom while the green drops from Mage Lord Urom in Occulus (WoTLK). While last year the hats from the Northrend bosses could drop from both Heroic and Normal modes, this year they seem only to drop in Heroic mode (this may only be if you have the Cataclysm expansion). In Cataclysm instances it drops from Admiral Ripsnarl in heroic Deadmines, High Priestess Azil in the Stone Core (H & N), Corla Herald of Twilight in Blackrock Caverns(H & N), Lord Godfrey in Shadowfang Keep (H) and Drahga Shadowburner in Grim Batol (H & N). .
All the above achievements are necessary to complete the Merrymaker achievement and title and to count towards What a Long Strange Trip It Has Been and the violet proto-drake. Two other achievements are possible Crashin’ & Thrashin’ (get 25 crashes from your Crashin’ & Thrashin’ racer – which was a gift under the tree in 2008) and BB King (pelt the enemy factional leaders with your BB gun – a gift in 2009).
Wishing you all a Christmas season full of joy, peace and love – as we celebrate with our families, give and receive gifts, enjoy those special treats, share memories, think of those who for one reason or another cannot be with us – and remember the baby born into obscurity who radically changed the world and demonstrated the depth of God’s love for us all.
KharinSaving Winter Veil
Winter Veil is probably the Azerothian festival I enjoy the most. Running over 18 days, Winter Veil is less time pressured than many of the other seasonal events, has some fun quests and interesting challenges, some cool companion pets and the distinct feel of celebration about it. After all, there is something nostalgic about checking the gifts under the tree, waiting impatiently until Christmas day and then opening the gaily wrapped packages to see what they contain. This year Winter Veil has hardly changed at all from previous years – perhaps there are not as many people doing the quests or chasing the achievements as in previous years with the recent release of the new Cataclysm content. Still, this year we get a new cool remote controlled toy (MiniZep Controller) and a change to the distribution to the Red and Green Winter Veil’s hat, streamlining of the requirements for Bomb Them Again, as well as the usual companion pets (Red and Green Little Helpers, Snowman kit, Jingle Bell), festive goodies, quests and achievements (see below).
Winter Veil clearly falls around the time and alludes to the major Western festival of Christmas (mistletoe, holly, gifts under the festively decorated fir trees, the garb and roles of Father Winter and his helpers, traditional Christmas foods, reindeer, the Greench etc). The date of Christmas is close to (though not exactly on) the date of the Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere (and the Summer Solstice in the Southern Hemisphere) and it was common in pre-Christian Europe to celebrate a festival in the very depths of winter in the hope that summer, light, warmth and growth would return to the world. In the quest line The Reason for the Season both Dwarven and Tauren Legends are cited to indicate that Winter Veil was a time to celebrate the land’s blanketing with snow by Great-Father Winter and the renewal of the land. The traditionalists lament that the Goblins have commercialised the season with “a bumbling fool in a red suit,” the giving of gifts and festival foods. This is the closest that Winter Veil gets to alluding to the other major reason that Christmas has been celebrated in the West over the last 2000 years – the birth of Jesus of Nazareth in the small hamlet of Bethlehem in Israel. Jesus was thought by many to be the long awaited Messiah (Christ) and he made radical claims about himself and announced a radical message about God’s love and forgiveness that got him offside with the religious authorities of the day. Despite his subsequent death at Roman hands, his followers claimed that he had risen from the dead, continuing to spread his movement and message and “turning the world upside down.” It is perhaps surprising that such an influential person, who is honoured, at least in name, by half the world’s population and respected by icons such as Mohammad, Mahatma Ghandi, Albert Einstein, Martin Luther King, the Dalai Lama and Mother Teresa, is so easily sidelined into obscurity. While Christians might claim that Jesus is the Reason for the Season, any allusions to the existence and influence of this world figure in the world of Azeroth are at best obscure, satirical and perhaps unwelcome – reflecting a major trend in popular, secular and neo-spiritual Western culture.
Quests
Most of the quests for Winter Veil are required of or related to the achievements (see details below) except for the lead in quests Great-Father Winter is Here! and Winter Presents, also the Treats for Great-father Winter and the Reason for the Season quest line. The treats for Great-father Winter are a glass of milk and 5 Gingerbread Cookies. The cookies can easily be cooked from a recipe and ingredients purchased from the Smokeywood Pastures vendors and small eggs. The Reason for the Season quest line (minimum level 10) is given by Goli Krumn in the Commons, Ironforge (Alliance) or Fermund in the Valley of Strength (Horde), requires speaking to Historian Karnik in the Explorer’s League Library (Alliance) or Tauren Sargorne Creststrider in the Valley of Wisdom(Horde) and then taking a book of lore on Winter’s Veil to Muradin Bronzebeard in the High Seat(Alliance) or Baine Bloodhoof in Thunderbluff (Horde).
Achievements
Scrooge , He Knows If You’ve Been Naughty, Bros. Before Ho Ho Ho’s(Alliance), Let It Snow and With a Little Helper from My Friends are reasonably simple and can mostly be done by lower level toons (the first two at level 1 while the others probably require level 15+).
- For Scrooge buy snow balls from the Smokey Pastures Goblin near Father Winter and then throw it at Muradin in the High Seat of Ironforge (Alliance) or in Bloodhoof in Thunderbluff (Horde).
- For He Knows If You’ve Been Naughty open one of the presents under the Tree next to Father Winter in either Ironforge or Orgrimmar. The presents can only be opened from Christmas Day onwards and then the number of presents that can be opened depend on your level (2 for level 1+, 4 for level 10+ including the MiniZep in 2010, 5 for level 20+ including a companion pet, and 6 for level 40+).
- Bros. Before Ho Ho Ho’s requires you to apply (right click) the mistletoe to a number of named “brothers” – priests or paladins. The mistletoe is one of the possible rewards you can receive from kissing a Winter Veil reveler under the mistletoe in the main inns. You can only do this once an hour, only receive 5 each time and may receive fresh holly or snowflakes instead so you may need to do this a few times. The mistletoe is soulbound . For alliance, five of the eight brothers can be found in the Stormwind Cathedral – Kristoff is in the courtyard in front of the Cathedral, Cassius is the Reagent vendor in the room with the first aid trainer, Benjamin and Joshua are in the main part of the Cathedral and Crowley is in the basement; Wilhelm is the paladin trainer outside Goldshire smithy; Karman is the paladin training the troops outside the Keep in Theramore and Nimetz is at the Rebel Camp in Northern Stranglethorn. (A boat from Menethil Harbour on the coast of Wetlands goes to Theramore while the Rebel Camp can be reached from the Darkshire road going south.) (For Horde version see below).
- Let It Snow requires sprinkling specific race-class combinations (eg blood elf warlock, draeni priest, dwarf paladin, gnome mage, human warrior, night elf druid, orc death knight, tauren shaman, troll hunter, undead rogue ) with a handful of snowflakes. The snowflakes like the holly are a possible reward from kissing a Winter Veil reveler under the mistletoe. The snowflakes are not soul bound but they are “conjured” so they can be traded but can’t be mailed. The main difficulty is finding the required combination, especially of the opposite faction. Dalaran may still be the best place to search, even though is virtually a ghost town since the portals were removed. Other possibilities include the busier factional cities (for your own faction), starting areas (for both your own and opposite faction), neutral cities such as booty bay or ratchet or the Argent Tournament, new questing areas such as Mount Hyjal, or battle grounds (e.g. Arathi Basin, Eye of the Storm or Alterac Valley etc).
- With a Little Helper from My Friends requires 50 honorable kills while transformed into a Little Helper from the PX-238 Winter Wondervolt machine. Machines are located in factional cities such as outside the gates of Ironforge, down the ramp from the Flightmaster in Stormwind (Alliance) or near the Ridemaster in Orgrimmar (Horde). They are also located in Goblin neutral towns such as Booty Bay and Gadgetzhan and in Runeweaver square, Dalaran. The 30 min buff is lost by death and/or shape shifting. This is a real pain for druids who use shape shifting (cat, bear, owlkin and tree form) as a necessary part of engaging in combat! It obviously also good if you can avoid death (not always possible in battlegrounds!) Possible strategies are to use a machine where you can go about some business while queuing or pursuing other parts of the achievement like Make it Snow (e.g. major city), queue for a battle ground (BG), either a specific one in which you are likely to get a large number of honourable kills without/before dying (eg Alterac Valley, or using a turret gun in Strand of the Ancients though probably not Wintergrasp any more due to low numbers turning up) or for a random BG. The advantage of a random BG is that you don’t queue as long. Keep in mind too that you will be booted from the BG if you are flagged inactive for too long (if you try to avoid combat in a “safe” place). Also there is a deserter’s buff for leaving a BG early which will lock you out of the queue for 15 mins. While it may be possible to get all 50 kills in one BG it is probable that you will have to queue more than once – not forgetting to transform into a Little Helper before you do. (If you do have some snowflakes on hand you may like to use this opportunity to use them for Let It Snow when appropriate.)
Simply Abominable, A Frosty Shake, The Winter Veil Gourmet and On Metzen! are not too difficult but they do require level 30+ to be able to complete.
- Simply Abominable requires finishing the Stolen Winter Treats quest line (minimum level is 30) received from the goblin near Father Winter. A delivery of Smokeywood Pastures Winter Treats has gone missing and it is your job to find where they are and retrieve them to save Winter Veil. Ride/Fly to the yeti area of Alterac Mountains (just south of the Ruins of Alterac in the Ogre area) and find the Strange Snowman in a clump of trees (the disguised Smokeywood Pastures delivery man) who will tell you the Abominable Greench (a 36 level elite Yeti like creature) has stolen the Treats. He spawns in a semicircle around the southern and western walls of the Alterac Ruins with a very short respawn time. Higher level players will find him easy to solo while lower level players will need help from other players to take him down. Return the Treats to Ironforge or Orgrimmar. You will then get a Smokeywood Pastures Thankyou gift from Father Winter to complete the questline and the achievement.
- With A Frosty Shake you need to receive a Winter Veil Disguise Kit (sent in the mail 24 hrs after completing the Stolen Winter Treats quest line), a snowball or two (to be able to use the disguise kit), some way of getting to Dalaran (either fly, hearth or buy/beg a port) and another obliging dancing snowman to dance with you in your dancing snowman disguise.
- The Winter Veil Gourmet requires cooking three recipes (Gingerbread Cookies, Egg Nog and Hot Apple Cider which require level 1, 35 and 325 cooking skill respectively). The recipes and most of the ingredients can be obtained from the Goblins near Father Winter or other Smokeywood Pastures vendors in Stormwind or Thunderbluff. Of the two remaining ingredients, cold milk can be purchased from any drinks vendor while small eggs are a fairly common drop from flying birds and owlkin (levels 5-35ish). Westfall, Teldrassil and Mulgore are good places to go hunting for eggs. Alternatively, you can buy them at the Auction House. While it is possible for lower level toons to have the necessary high cooking skill, especially following Pilgrim’s Bounty, the sparkling apple cider (which is soulbound) needed for the Hot Apple Cider recipe can only be purchased from the vendor by toons level 35+.
- On Metzen! This questline (received from the Goblin near Father Winter with a minimum requirement of level 40) requires you to save the red nosed reindeer Metzen from the clutches of kidnappers. Don’t forget to open the package you receive from the quest giver to get a bundle of ransom letters and a pouch of reindeer dust. The letters hint two locations where the kidnapped reindeer may be found. Metzen can be found in a stable in the pirate compound of Cove in Tanaris (still there despite the sweeping away of Steamwheedle port and Zanjil’s Den in the sundering from the recent cataclysm.) He can also be found in the northern part of Searing Gorge near the canyon that leads to the Searing Gorge Gate. Once you find Metzen, deal with the kidnappers and then click on Metzen to sprinkle the dust and he will fly away. Return to the quest giver to complete the quest and the achievement.
Four more achievements (The Winter Veil Gourmet, ‘Tis the Season, Bros. Before Ho Ho Ho’s[Horde] and Fa-la-la-la-Ogri’la) normally require 60+ to complete and vary in complexity.
- Fa-la-la-la-Ogri’la is the most involved requirement of the Winter Veil achievements. It requires doing the Bomb Them Again quest in Blades Edge Mountains while your mount is transformed into a flying reindeer (by using either fresh or crystallized holly) during the festival. Fresh holly (which is soulbound) comes from kissing winter revellers while crystallised holly (not soulbound) is a quest reward of Hero for the Day (a follow on from the Metzen questline).
As for the quest – in the past you were required to do 12 lead-in quests starting in Shattrath with Naara V’eru , then the ogre Grok in the lower city, and then the quests from the two-headed Ogre Wizzard Mog’dorg (standing on the tower east of the Ring of Blood) in the north-east of Blades Edge Mountains. Mog’dorg asks you to defeat and loot five hard hitting 70 elites before proclaiming you King or Queen of the ogres and sending you on to Ogril’la area in the north of Blades Edge Mountains This is no longer necessary to pick up the Bomb Them Again quest (as I found out after my pallie worked her way through them all this season) – though it is probably still necessary for completion of On Blade’s Edge and Loremaster of Outlands achievements.
Attention: Now you fly from the Dark Portal straight to Ogri’la in western Blade’s Edge Mountains (between Forge Camp Wrath and Forge Camp:Terror) and speak to the ogre Chu’a’lor to get The Crystals quest (collect 5 Apexis shards from drops from mobs and also occasional lootable shards in the crystal clusters), once this is completed pick up Our Boy Wants To Be A Skyguard Ranger from the ogre Torkus. Collect another 10 apexis shards and use them in one of the machine in one of the forge camps to get the Unstable Flask of the Beast. Hand in the quest. You should now get the The Skyguard Outpost from Chu’a'lor (though my pallie didn’t get this quest until she completed The Apexis Relic Quest as well). Speak to Sky Commander Keller who will send you to Sky Sergeant Vanderlip. Vanderlip will give you the Bombing Run quest which, when completed, opens up the daily Bomb Them Again.
For the Apexis Relic you need at least one Apexis shard , a pen/pencil and note paper. Start with the smaller peripheral crystals and watch carefully which colours are activated, then repeat in exactly the same order. If you don’t you will be painfully zapped and have to start over again. Depending on how good your memory is the first 3-4 cycles are easy enough to remember but then it gets a bit more difficult. You have time to quickly write the sequence down using just the first letter of each color (e.g. RGGBYG would be Red, Green, Green, Blue, Yellow, Green).
For both the Bombing Run and Bomb Them Again, fly either north to Forge Camp:Wrath or south to Forge Camp: Terror and target 15 Fel Cannonball Stacks while avoiding being hit by the Fel Cannons. Come in high, swooping down into range once you have the cannon balls in your sights. There is no need to wait once you have clicked and the more you keep moving and take evasive action (while avoiding veering into the flak), the less likely the cannons are to hit you. You don’t actually need to use the holly while doing the run though I think that is part of the fun of this achievement but do remember to use it before handing in the daily to get the achievement.
- Bros. Before Ho Ho Ho’s (Horde) also requires you to apply (right click) the mistletoe (gained from kissing Winter Veil revelers – see above) to a number of named “brothers.” While the Horde only need 3 brothers (compared with the 8 for Alliance), one in particular would normally only be accessible for higher level toons. Brother Malach is in the WarQuarter in Undercity and Durkot Wolfbrother is Stable Master and is on the lower floor Warsong Hold where the wolves are kept. Warsong Hold is in Borean Tundra Northrend which can be reached by the Zeppelin leaving Orgrimmar. The path from zeppelin tower to the Hold (go down the ramp and then turn right, past the pig pen to the middle level) is not exactly safe for lower level toons so it may require a corpse run. Brother Keltan is on the Airship Ogrim’s Hammer that flies around Icecrown in Northrend. This can only be reached by flying mount (needs Cold Weather Flying obtained at 77) or with the quest Preparations for War (min level requirement 77).
- ‘Tis the Season requires eating Graccu’s Mince Meat Fruitcake while wearing three pieces of Winter Veil clothing. The Fruitcake will be sent in the mail as part of a thank you gifts for completing questlines. The coat and the boots of either color can be made by tailors (skill level 250) and leather makers (level 285) respectively. While the recipes are soulbound, the items are not so they can be posted to alts, put in the Guild Bank, traded or bought of Auction House. The difficulty is in obtaining the Red or Green Winter hats which are soulbound. The hats are very rare world drop (one of my alts got it from a low level mob in Bloodmyst Isle). The hats also drop from certain instance bosses. In Northrend the red one drops from Grand Magus Telestra in the Nexus and Jedoga Shadowseeker in Anahkahet Old Kingdom while the green drops from Mage Lord Urom in Occulus (WoTLK). While last year the hats from the Northrend bosses could drop from both Heroic and Normal modes, this year they seem only to drop in Heroic mode (this may only be if you have the Cataclysm expansion). In Cataclysm instances it drops from Admiral Ripsnarl in heroic Deadmines, High Priestess Azil in the Stone Core (H & N), Corla Herald of Twilight in Blackrock Caverns(H & N), Lord Godfrey in Shadowfang Keep (H) and Drahga Shadowburner in Grim Batol (H & N). .
All the above achievements are necessary to complete the Merrymaker achievement and title and to count towards What a Long Strange Trip It Has Been and the violet proto-drake. Two other achievements are possible Crashin’ & Thrashin’ (get 25 crashes from your Crashin’ & Thrashin’ racer – which was a gift under the tree in 2008) and BB King (pelt the enemy factional leaders with your BB gun – a gift in 2009).
Wishing you all a Christmas season full of joy, peace and love – as we celebrate with our families, give and receive gifts, enjoy those special treats, share memories, think of those who for one reason or another cannot be with us – and remember the baby born into obscurity who radically changed the world and demonstrated the depth of God’s love for us all.
Kharin
leaders with your BB gun – a gift in 2009).
Wishing you all a Christmas season full of joy, peace and love – as we celebrate with our families, give and receive gifts, enjoy those special treats, share memories, think of those who for one reason or another cannot be with us – and remember the baby born into obscurity who radically changed the world and demonstrated the depth of God’s love for us all.
Kharin