Zom over on the forums asks: what's your favorite WoW holiday? And the response is extra special because it's by Kisirani, who, you may know, is actually Blizzard's World Event Designer-- him showing up in your thread about holidays is kind of like God showing up on a thread about your favorite mountain range.
Kisirani asks specifically for constructive, reasoned posts, but c'mon, he's asking on the WoW forums. Fortunately, this site is not the WoW forums, and our comments are more than capable of giving constructive and reasoned.. well...
I kid! Tell the guy what your favorite WoW holiday is, whether it be the free epics of Hallow's End or the ticket grinding of Brewfest, and maybe the upcoming updates to Nobelgarden (we hope) will incorporate some of your constructive and well-reasoned ideas!
There's a discussion going down on the forums about what many consider to be the most exciting part of MMO games, including World of Warcraft-- world events. As many drawbacks as there were to the AQ events, no one can argue that they didn't affect everyone in the World-- everyone was able to step up and help the war effort, and even though everyone didn't fit in Silithus, everyone came across some of the invaders that spread across the world. While the Naxx event was that way as well, we haven't really seen anything else on that scale even in this, the largest MMO ever. And let's not forget that since Burning Crusade was released, we're dealing with a lot more people-- there are huge amounts of the population who have never seen a world event yet.
Which makes it all the more likely that we will see a big one for Wrath of the Lich King. Bornakk says that while Blizzard realizes that a lot needs to go into creating a big world event, they've also learned a lot from Brewfest and the Hallow's End events about how to both tune the scale and get players involved. But Blizzard still wants to do a big one, and from what we heard at BlizzCon, they're going to come up with a reason for Alliance and Horde to head up to Northrend after Arthas.
My guess? Arthas is going to become a threat again-- he'll invade Undercity, or bomb Darnassus, or somehow attack our world. And for the first time that I can think of since the game has started, we're going to actually lose something-- an NPC, a city (at the very least, Dalaran) or something else. For all of the fighting going on in the world of Warcraft, it hasn't yet changed that much. And I think that with the next expansion, Blizzard is looking to have Arthas shake things up a bit.
Micah T sent us this picture of Indiana Jane, which actually won him the costume contest he attended over on Ravenholdt. And Jane (and her fear of snakes) has beguiled the WoW Insider staff as well-- Micah is our ingame costume contest winner, and gets all the trick-or-treat loot from Manaprincess (who also kindly did a little co-judging for our contest). Congrats, Micah, and great costume.
But while the prizes may end there, the recognition does not, because holy moly we got a lot of great entries. I was expecting just a few, but you readers are some creative geniuses. Everything from superheroes to sushi chefs are after the break. Honorable mentions are all after the break, and every single one of them rocks-- I wish we had prizes to give you all.
Update: Have a gallery! Even if you've already browsed through the thread, our gallery has all the fullsize shots, so check that out too, yo.
As we bid adieu to Hallow's End, I would like to take a moment to look back at some of the events we enjoyed during these few short weeks. We tricked, we treated, we slew a dead guy on a horse with a really creepy laugh. Ah, good times.
With pumpkin carving still on our minds, I present to you a Snacky's Journal moviewatch, only this one is completely devoid of Snacky or his overly boisterous Night Elf friend. It's a Hallow's End special, starring my personal favorite character from the series, Roberto.
NSFW: There's a reference or two in here that might offend the kiddies, or the stodgier guys in your cubicle.
Just a reminder that we are in the final stretch of our Hallow's End costume contest-- the entry period ends at 6pm EST this evening, so if you have screenshots of ingame costumes to send, get them in to wowinsidercontests@gmail.com right now!
Don't forget, too, that we're giving away a whole trick-or-treat bag of prizes from the very crafty Mana Princess-- she's sending along ribbons, key chains, and a few different varieties of Hearthstones to our chosen winner. And just for fun, we're also tossing in a t-shirt and a 60 day game card. You know the rules by now-- must be a US resident and 18 years of age or older to enter. If the shoe fits, send a jpg of your ingame costume (can be of anyone, in WoW or real life) to wowinsidercontests@gmail.com, and make sure to include your name, age, email, and street address, so we know where to send the prizes to!
And even if you don't enter, stay tuned-- we'll have the winner and all the best entrants coming up on the site next week, in an ingame costume parade of our own. Should be fun!
Two weeks ago, we asked you what your Hallow's End goals were. Almost half of you responded that shaking the Headless Horsemen until phat loot dropped from his gourd was your primary goal. From Heroic rings to the low, low drop rate of the Sinister Squashling to the limited duration flying brooms to the flaming green plate helm, this guy was Azeroth's most wanted.
So now we ask you, with the two weeks available to you:
If not, what happened? Bad PuGs? Low drop rate? Real life? Let us know!
There's candy corn on the forums, the Headless Horseman is in the SM graveyard, and everyone's wondering what to wear for a costume this evening, so you guessed it-- it's Halloween again!
From all of us at WoW Insider, have a safe and happy Halloween, whether you're trick-or-treating in Azeroth tonight or out and about in the real world. And don't forget-- no matter where you are, be sure to send us pictures. We're looking for some great in-game costumes for our Hallow's End contest, and of course we're always looking for great real world costumes with a Warcraft flavor! If we get enough real-world costumes, we'll put them all together in a gallery later this week, and our in-game costume contest ends Friday-- drop us a .jpg of the in-game costume to wowinsidercontests@gmail.com, and be sure to include your name, email address, street address, and age in there as well. Remember, you've got a chance to win some awesome crafts from Manaprincess.
About a week and a half ago, the halls of Scarlet Monastery were packed with more players than they've seen in a long time. Corpses of Horde, Alliance and unwitting Scarlet Crusaders littered the floor when Hallow's End hit the servers and plate-wearers world wide began their obsessive quest to nab the Horseman's Helm.
Of course, the warriors and paladins aren't alone in their enthusiasm. Since there are a variety of goodies that can be acquired, it wasn't difficult to find groups to challenge the Horseman the first few days of the event. As players have collected the items they were hoping to get or simply got bored of the encounter, it's become more difficult to find a group to take down the cackling loot piñata.
With the real life holiday of Halloween marking the end of its Azerothian counterpart on Wednesday, time is running out to summon the Horseman. Hopefully more people will be online and willing to get a couple more shots at the helm/pet/ring they've been salivating over.
Personally, it took me over thirty-five attempts to get the Helm for my warrior, and I have guild mates that are still trying to get the Sinister Squashling. While the drop rates are certainly random, in my experience, these two items are both the most sought after and the least common. While I'd love to get the pet for one of my characters, the grind for the helm was enough for this year.
Have you achieved your Hallow's End goals? What are you still hoping to get accomplished?
Psylah sent us this great pic of her in her "Big Bad Wolf" costume (complete with little pig) and suggested that for Hallow's End this year, we do an ingame costume contest. We couldn't agree more, and so we're proud to introduce the WoW Insider Hallow's End costume contest. Just cook up a great ingame costume (could be something from real-life, your take on a Warcraft NPC, or anything you can think of) before this Friday, November 2nd, and send a .jpg screenshot of it to us at wowinsidercontests@gmail.com (with your full name, age, email address, and street address) Then, the WoW Insider staff will judge the entries based on 1/3 Originality, 1/3 Creativity, and 1/3 Costume Accuracy, and we'll declare a winner after that.
And what might you win for creating the best in-game costume? Glad you asked! WoW Insider has teamed up with the crafty (literally-- she makes crafts) Manaprincess to bring you a trick-or-treat bag featuring some of her favorite handmade crafts. The winner will get:
And because it's Hallow's End, we'll even throw in a Jinx Warcraft t-shirt, and a 60 day game card! Tastier than candy, and more useful, too!
Here's the fine print: all entries must be in by 3pm on November 2nd, 2007, and all entrants must be US residents 18 years of age or older (sorry EU folks, but we've got to mail the package to you). Just send your entry (a jpg screenshot of an ingame costume you've put together) to wowinsidercontests@gmail.com, along with your full name, age, email address, and street address. Have fun putting your costume together, and good luck!
Everyone is having so much fun with their Headless Horseman brooms these days during the Hallow's End event in WoW, but with an incorrect tooltip and heaps of confusion (including our own) about just how long they'll last, most players aren't quite sure just how much fun they're going to have.
Bornakk clears up some of the confusion (which he also had a hand in creating), saying that "the items with a duration on them won't all vanish on November first, you just won't be able to get any new ones." So now here is the factual summary of the official words on blizzard regarding your beloved broom mounts:
They last for 14 days, not just for one ride.
They last for 14 days of played game time on the character that possesses them, not 14 days of real time, and extending beyond the Hallow's End event for however long you keep them on an unplayed character.
Just think about how those of you who were patient and saved up your brooms on an alt can try and sell them later on when Hallow's End is over, but people still wish they could ride in witchy (or Quidditchy) style. Do you think they'll be worth something?
Level 70 Elite Tauren guards (not to be confused with L70ETC) have been stationed outside Zul'Aman on the test server. I agree with Elizabeth that the race choice makes no sense, but according to CM Nethaera, the guards (in some form) are there to stay.
This is, of course, in response to the overwhelming complaints from Alliance players that have to go to Horde territory in order to try out the new instance.
Nethaera also says that they will be implementing a Contested Area around Zul'Aman to further alleviate the unbridled ganking currently occuring there. She says that in the past, they could only flag entire zones as contested, but now they have the ability to change the PvP status of just an area within a zone. This change will be implemented on the PTR first before coming to live servers.
They are also going to be surrounding other instances with contested areas, such as the Scarlet Monastery. Unfortunately for the Alliance players currently trying to farm the Headless Horseman, this change will come a bit late. But maybe it will be implemented in time for next year's event.
Players have been voicing concerns about changing the areas in lowbie zones to contested. How will it affect the level 10s trying to quest around these new contested areas?
November 1st is the last day of Hallow's End, so come next Thursday, not only will you be sick from all the candy, but the costumes, decorations, and yes, the brooms will all be gone. Get that magic broom flying in now while you can, because in just a week, they'll be takin' yo' broom.
Update: A few players are saying that the brooms will disappear after 14 days of /played time, not after November 1st. My understanding was that when Hallow's End is over, so is the broom riding. We'll find out next Thursday. Happy Halloween!
Now, a little while ago, Blizzard implemented an Arena points system, where as long as you ran 10 arena matches, you could stock up points and then use them for Arena weapons. So raiders (who didn't PvP much, but wanted the weapons) would save up their points even if they lost, and buy the weapons once they'd saved enough. Arena players, however, cried foul-- they said the Arena weapons had become "welfare epics." So Blizzard required a good Arena rating to buy those weapons.
As of Tuesday, it's Hallow's End in Azeroth, and there is now a Headless Horseman event in Scarlet Monastery's Graveyard. Everyone I know (including me) has run the event multiple times, and Epics are dropping like Hallow's End candy. So here's the question: should Blizzard really be giving out Epics for an event that takes just a few minutes and only a modicum of skill? Aren't these as "welfare epics" as they come? Is the Horseman event too easy to be giving out loot like this?
Now, obviously, the rings and helm that the Horseman drops are hardly the Arena weapons that Blizzard had to put behind a rating. Though they are Epic, they're not that amazing-- one trip through Karazhan could probably replace all of them. But Karazhan is a ten main raid, and this is an event that can be done with as little as three people once every day (and I wouldn't be surprised to see it soloed by some ambitious Paladin before long). Already, three days into the event, my guild was running a 66 Mage in there just to get a "free" epic ring for him to use, four levels from now. Isn't that a bit much?
We're nearly to a new weekend, which means it's nearly time for another episode of the WoW Insider Show, coming to you live every Saturday on WoW Radio! To listen, all you have to do is point your browser to WoW Radio at 3:30 PM EST or 8:30 PM GMT this Saturday (that's tomorrow!). You're also welcome to add your voice to the conversation by joining us in IRC on irc.wowirc.com in channel #wowradio. (And if you have something to say -- but can't make the live show, feel free to e-mail your comments or questions to theshow@wowinsider.com!)
We're planning on covering all of the big topics that have come up this week on WoW Insider, paying special attention to the recently launched Hallow's End events and continuing news on patch 2.3. I can promise you interesting discussion -- so please join us tomorrow!
What were you up to last night in-game? If your evening resembled mine (and, by the looks of the crowd, hundreds of my closest friends), then you were hitting up the Scarlet Monastery graveyard to summon and fight the Headless Horseman. The Horseman isn't an impossible fight, but neither is he a pushover -- which is probably appropriate, since he drops epic loot and one of four broom mounts with each kill. But in case you haven't had a chance to jump online and see the fight yourself, I offer this video of the encounter.
Zom over on the forums asks: what's your favorite WoW holiday? And the response is extra special because it's by Kisirani, who, you may know, is actually Blizzard's World Event Designer-- him showing up in your thread about holidays is kind of like God showing up on a thread about your favorite mountain range.
There's 
Just a reminder that we are in the final stretch of 
Two weeks ago, we asked you 
Now, a little while ago, Blizzard implemented an Arena points system, where as long as you ran 10 arena matches, you could stock up points and then use them for Arena weapons. So raiders (who didn't PvP much, but wanted the weapons) would save up their points even if they lost, and buy the weapons once they'd saved enough. Arena players, however, cried foul-- they said the Arena weapons had become "welfare epics." So Blizzard 
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