#0 - Oct. 17, 2009, 7:57 p.m.
Welcome to Alizea's guide to Hallow's End. As of writing this, Hallow's End hasn't actually started but WoW players are an impatient breed so this might still be useful to some. Besides, most if not all of the achievements are the same as last year. I'll be updating this once it does start and I get more info. Feel free to correct me if you think I've missed something.
Blizz sez: Observed by both the Horde and the Alliance, Hallow's End is the celebration of the break between the Forsaken and the Scourge. Many tricks and treats await adventurers seeking holiday fun, including defeating the Headless Horseman, visiting inns and cities for fun items such as masks and costumes, and eating way too much candy in one sitting.
Hallow's End is a World of Warcraft holiday modeled after Halloween, and as such there are pumpkins, black cats and candy about.
Trick or Treat!
To trick or treat an innkeeper, talk to them and choose the right dialogue option. If you get a treat you'll get a bag of, well, treats. These can contain food (candybars and lollipops), Hallowed Wands, Toothpicks, Squashling Pets, Hallowed Helms and a ton of masks. Last year there were two masks availible for every race in the game (male and female) and collecting them all gives you an achievement. THIS ACHIEVEMENT IS NOT PART OF THE META-ACHIEVEMENT.
However, if you get tricked the inkeeper will turn you into a cat, mini diablo or something like that for a short amount of time.
You can only Trick or Treat once every hour.
Candy
Candy is obtained from Candy Buckets. They give you stacking buffs when eaten.
Chewy Fel Taffy - increases hit rating by five per stack.
Soothing Spearmint Candy - increases spell power by eleven per stack. Stacks with Pyroblast Cinnamon Ball.
Pyroblast Cinnamon Ball - increases spell power by six per stack. Stacks with Soothing Spearmint Candy.
The Headless Horseman
Hallow's End has a PvE "boss" that needs to be fought. It is the legendary Headless Horseman who comes out to set the towns of Azeroth ablaze, and it's up to you to stop him. This boss was very easy last year, much like Coren 2009. Just like Coren or Ahune you get a daily quest to summon the Horseman in Scarlet Monastery: Graveyard wing. The boss is so trivial I will not bother to go into the fight into detail, it's basically like this: attack the Horseman until his head flies off, then attack his head. Repeat until he gives you loot. Really, the hardest thing about this fight is stomaching his wack rhymes. Typical cracka-ass paladin mc.
Last year the Horseman dropped BoJ rings, and if Coren is any indication Horseman level 80 will drop functional duplicates of level 80 rings - likely rings dropped from level 80 heroic dungeons.
UPDATE: The Horseman does indeed drop iL200 rings. One spell dps, one melee dps and one healing itemized ring. No tanking ring.
The Helm and Blade have been updated as well.
Other drops of note from last year:
- Weighted Jack-O-Lantern for achievements.
Sinister Squashling Pet for achievements.
Hallowed Helm for achievements.
Horseman's Blade - a very rare epic onehanded sword that can summon pumpkin soldiers as an on-use ability
Horseman's Helm - a very rare epic plate helm for melee dps
Horseman's Reins - an extremely rare mount which will award you with a Feat of Strength. The Horseman's Reins is a mount that requires 75 riding skill to use and scales with your riding skill - if your skill is 150, it's a 100% ground mount, if it's 225 it's a 150% flying mount, and if it's 300 it's a 280% flying mount.
Brooms - The brooms are mounts that are not learned and they last 14 days. They come in different speeds and require appropriate riding skill to use. Brooms seem to lack cast time this year as well. As far as I know they don't count towards any mount achievements.
Meta-achievement: Hallowed be thy name
This Meta-Achievement will give you the title "[name] the Hallowed" and a tick off "What a Long Strange Trip It's Been".
- Trick or Treat!
Get candy from a candy bucket.
Just head down to Razor Hill, Goldshire or wherever and click on the candy bucket, shaped like a pumpkin. They have a yellow exclamation mark over them, you can't really miss them. If you want to know which one is the closest to you right this instant, look in your achievement tab for "Tricks and treats of Eastern Kingdoms, Kalimdor or Outland".
Out with it!
Eat so many tricky treats you get an upset tummy.
Tricky treats drop (by the hundreds) from the Headless Horseman. When you eat them you get a stacking speedbuff, but be careful! If you eat too many treats too fast you'll start puking your guts out. The goal is to puke. I don't know what the PEGI 12+ rating says about encouranging puking, I guess we'll find out later.
Bring me the head of... Oh wait.
Defeat the Headless Horseman.
Nothing strange here, just defeat the Headless Horseman in SM:GY and you'll have your achievement.
The Saviour of Hallow's End
Complete one of the quests to save a village from the Headless Horseman.
The Headless Horseman terrorizes low level villages like Goldshire, Kharanos, Razor Hill, and Azure Watch and sets fire to buildings. The Orphan Matron at each village will offer you a quest to put them out. You will need a couple people to do this, much like Dark Iron Invasions.
You pick up the buckets close to the matron and throw them at the fire. Throw at the bigger fires first, or it will spread. The best way of doing this is to set up a bucket brigade, and throw buckets to other players who then throw it at the fires.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bucket_brigade
That Sparkling Smile
Show off your sparkling smile by using a Tooth Pick.
Use a toothpick found in Trick or Treat bags. Your teeth will sparkle for a minute and you'll get your achievement. This caused people a lot of grief last year as people were dependant on RNG to get it (in before Liam)
Rotten Hallow
Ruin Hallow's End for the other factions by doing quests in Hillsbrad Foothills. Alliance have to crash the horde's wickerman festival in Tirisfal Glades (just west of Ruins of Lordaeron, on the path to Silverpine) and clean up the stinkbombs the horde players throw at Southshore.
The horde, not surprisingly, have to throw stinkbombs at hillsbrad and place rotten eggs inside the southshore inn, then return to the Wickerman festival.
UPDATE: This was hard last year because not many stunk up Southshore after the first few days, but this year a forsaken spy has infiltrated Southshore. This spy will throw several stink bombs before scuttling away to Tarren Mill. These bombs stay for about three minutes after which they despawn. After three more minutes, the spy respawns.
G.N.E.R.D. Rage
Earn 50 honorable kills while under the effects of the G.N.E.R.D. buff.
G.N.E.R.D.'s are a reference to a realworld candy called Nerds. These and other candies are found in candy buckets and give a stacking buff. Bring some G.N.E.R.D.'s, pop one and jump into AV/WG. Just make sure to bring a few extra, you lose the buff when you die.
Check your head
Throw pumpkin heads on players of all races.
Most people know this by now. Weighted pumpkins are obtained by doing the daily "Extinguish fires" quest (see Saviour of Hallow's End) and drops off the headless horseman. These pumpkins are not soulbound and as such can be traded, mailed or sold. Throwing a pumpkin does not flag you for PvP, but if the target already has a pumpkin on their head you will not get credit. As such it could be an idea to wait a few days until everyone has calmed down about it so that you don't waste pumpkins.
The Masquerade
Get transformed by all the following Hallowed Wands.
Hallowed Wands are found in treat bags. Use them on another player to transform them into bats, ghosts and the likes. Since you can't use them on yourself, it's common for people to advertise in trade that they are willing to pay gold for someone to turn them into a ninja or whatnot.
Note that some of these costumes (Bat, Ghost) will lock out all your abilities so don't use them in a raid. Or if you are a jerk like me, use them in a raid. Preferably on the main tank.
Sinister Calling
Obtain a sinister squashling pet and a hallowed helm.
Both these things drop off the Headless Horseman, about 15% drop rate. You can also find them in treat bags. If you're really unlucky, there is a way for two people to "share" one pet. One person wins the item from HH and gets the achievement. He then trades the item to a second, who upon learning will also get the achievement.
Tricks and treats of Azeroth
Visit all candy buckets in Outland, EK and Kalimdor. The separate achievements tell you where they are.
Other things
Mobs level 50+ will drop special pumpkin bags during the holiday. The Pumpkin Bag is a BoP 16-slot bag, and the Jack-O-Lantern is a BoP 18-slot bag.
Black cats walk the cities. Don't cross them or you'll end up with bad luck!
Enjoy Hallow's End!
