Taking a gander at the official forums tonight will reveal something magically spooky.

All the blue posters have been turned into glowing jack-o-lanterns, and all of us normal folks have turned into undead zombies.

The conspiracy theorist in me suggests that this is a clue to the next stage of the zombie invasion. Tomorrow we'll all log on and have a strange urge for brains and only brains. Lots and lots of juicy... yummy... braaains. Insert Homer Simpson drool here.

Of course this could just be another fancy bit for Halloween, but who knows....

There is no indication how long this will last, and also there's no word if there'll be new Wrath of the Lich King avatars after this is done as there were when the Burning Crusade was released.

I have to admit. Achievements were a pretty bright idea. Holiday achievements, even more so. Now I have something to keep me focused through the holiday seasons, keep my eyes on the prize so to speak. For example, with Hallow's End fully underway, I've been racking up the achievements on my Hunter, looking to get that title. It's a nice goal to strive for.

It's a good thing that the A Mask for All Occasions requirement will be off Hallowed Be Thy Name in 3.0.3, or I'd be in trouble. Collecting one of each different mask? Please. Actually, I haven't even managed to collect one single mask, leaving The Mask Task woefully undone. I'm not sure what it is, but even doing 3-5 Trick or Treats a day, I have not managed to get one of those flimsy things on my Hunter. In past Hallow's Ends, I seemed to be destroying masks constantly, saying not nice things under my breath. This year, I pray for one, and instead have to deal with Penny Pouches and Candy Corn and costumes and no sign of a Mask.

The random number generator just hasn't been kind to me. As it is, I was afraid that the toothpicks would do me in. I didn't even get a set of Tooth Picks on my Hunter until yesterday.

The other item I need to finish out my Hallowed Title is the Hallowed Helm, which comes both from the Headless Horseman and Trick or Treating. I've seen it drop from the Horseman a few times, but I've always lost the rolls. But it's a rare drop, a low drop rate and a bit of luck should be expected to be needed for this stuff. But here's the funny thing: I have actually found Hallowed Helms while Trick or Treating. The problem is, I got them on 2 of my alts, my Paladin and my Warlock. Not exactly useful for my Hunter. But I keep trick or treating, praying my Hallowed Helm luck will strike one more time, and in the meantime admire how badass my Warlock looks with a pumpkin head.

How goes your achievement hunt? Do you have one or two Hallow's End Achievements that just keep eluding you? For that matter, how's your luck on the Headless Horseman? I know that despite having done a run a day on him, I have yet to see a sword, a horse, or a flying broom, so I'm interested to find if anyone is seeing those in abundance.

Every Thursday, Shelbi Roach of The Bronze Kettle guides you in creating WoW-inspired crafts using real world mats with World of WarCrafts.

Hallow's End is almost upon us, and with that comes flimsy masks, a chance to be named The Hallowed, and a shot at looting something more cute than sinister. Even if you miss out on this seasonal in-game pumpkin pet, you still have the chance to befriend this small squashling IRL.

Here is what you will need:

• Small (Fake) Pumpkin
  
• Small Stick
  
• Fake Leaves
  
• Vine Wire
• Acrylic Paint
• Hot Glue Gun
• Wire Cutters
• Paintbrush
• Pencil

Click on the images below to view a gallery of step-by-step instructions.

I love this time of year -- the leaves are turning colors, there's a cool breeze in the air, and we're getting closer and closer to both Hallow's End and Halloween. And speaking of Halloween, it's time once again for the annual Blizzard pumpkin contest -- Bornakk has the deets on the forums. Just carve up a pumpkin at least as cool as this one featuring Illy D (it was one of last year's winners), take a picture of it lit, and send it to the judges through this form. The pumpkins last year seemed very influenced by Burning Crusade, so this year, we'll probably see plenty of Arthas and Death Knight pumpkins in the entries (I'd like to see a Nerubian pumpkin, myself).

I can't wait to see the winners, though truth be told, I just can't wait for Hallow's End -- the best candy of all are the purple Epics falling like rain off the Headless Horseman.

brkn_doll over at WoW Ladies rolled a Draenei shammy to join up in her friends' guild, and when she picked up the tabard for it, she saw... well, unless you're color blind, you can't miss it*. As she says, she looks like a pumpkin.

What do you do when you finally put on a guild tabard, only to find that you wish you could take it back off again? For April Fool's Day, my guild leader turned our tabard hot pink, which I actually thought looked kind of good on my female Blood Elf mage. My shaman wouldn't have looked good in it, but he's wearing the Tabard of the Protector anyway, so there's one option: get a new tabard.

Not all of them are bad-- my gnome warrior was in a guild for a while with a blue and gold tabard, and that little minitank looked good. Have you ever confronted a guild leader about their bad tabard choices? Or if you're a guildleader, what made you choose your tabard colors? If they're orange and green, you should probably just go ahead and pay the 10g to fix it, because if doll's experience is any indication, it's hard to look like a badass when you're wearing a pumpkin.

*Because I know someone will ask, her strikingly clean UI is apparently built with Tet's UI. You're welcome.

Blizzard has presented US players with two new Halloween-themed contests -- a pumpkin-carving contest and a costume contest. Each contest covers all of Blizzard's games, with prizes awarded for entries with a Starcraft, Warcraft, or Diablo theme. And both contests have been done before -- this marking the 4th year of pumpkin and the 3rd year of the costume contest. The rewards are not astounding (a copy of WoW and the board game for the pumpkin-carving contest, and a copy of WoW with a years' subscription for the costume contest), but the contests sound fun, nevertheless.