With Love From Darnassus: Hallows End 2011 Guide

Happy Hallow's End Everybody!

This event started Tuesday (10/18) and will continue through Monday (10/31) and I'm sure you don't want to miss a thing, so I decided I'd create a quick guide here listing the quests, pets, loot, achievements and anything else you might want to know about the event here.

Let's start with the achievements. The Hallow's End Meta Achievement is part of "What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been..." which ultimately rewards you with a Violet Proto-Drake. Quite a few people have the VPD already, but for those that don't, I've decided to start talking about the holiday achievements.

Hallowed Be Thy Name

Criteria:

Now, in the past...some of these achievements were totally RNG based and there are quite a few people that only needed to loot and use a Toothpick to complete the entire meta...Blizz fixed that. The drop rates for achievement related items is far higher for Trick or Treating and many of the items you need to complete this can be purchased from a vendor now. The masks, Hallowed Helm, Sinister Squashling and I think the toothpicks can be purchased now with Tricky Treats which are rewards from both trick-or-treating and doing the daily quests.

To save space, each of the above achievements link to their respective WoWhead page. All of these are pretty easy, except for maybe GNERD Rage and Rotten Hallow. If you're doing the quest "A Time To Lose" for Rotten Hallow - expect to be killed by horde players. Be prepared for corpse runs. You can try to take your rez in a place where you can hopefully cast your hearthstone without getting attacked again, but it's better to just prepare for corpse runs. You won't suffer durability damage from player induced deaths anyway. Just be aware that for that one...you're probably going to die a couple times.

GNERD Rage is another one that's apt to get you killed...and if I remember correctly from when I did it a few years ago...it's likely to drive you into a complete nerd rage - so it's appropriately named for sure.

The meta achievement earns you the title of...The Hallowed. So...my druid, for example, is called Destinae The Hallowed. This is probably one of my favorite titles.

There aren't a ton of quests for this holiday, which I really like. It makes earning your title and getting everything completed so much easier. Although, if you look at WoWhead you'll want to cry when you see the number of quests they have listed...but they list each individual Candy Bucket as a quest...and there are a ton of them. Once you ignore those, there's really only a few quests to deal with.

Let's start with the quest chain to get your Creepy Crate companion pet. It begins with a quest given by Gretchen Fellow called "A Friend In Need" which requires you to find Anson Hastings and talk with him. He's located inside of The Gilded Rose Inn in Stormwind's Trade District. He will follow up with a quest called "Missing Heirlooms" which requires you to head off to Stormwind Harbor and search the cabin of the Courier's ship. From there, a quest called "Fencing The Goods" will lead you through Stormwind to your next quest: "Shopping Around". You just have to walk around a little bit inside the building and maybe talk to a few NPCs inside to complete the quest. If you want to save yourself some trouble, go purchase 5 arcane powder and 5 crystal vials before you even go to The Shady Lady. Once you've investigated the building, you'll be given a quest called "Taking Precautions" which will require you to turn in 5 arcane dusts, 5 crystal vials, and 5 Blood Nettle - which you can pick up around the lake in Northern Stormwind. (Something to note: The Blood Nettle can't be picked up around the lake with all of the Cataclysm portals...the lake you're looking for is to the West...the "lower level" lake by the farm.)

Once you've got your 15 quest items, turn in your quest and pick up "The Collector's Agent". I had trouble finding this guy...so, when you first walk down into the Catacombs under the Cathedral...you'll come to a T intersection where you can go left or right. Go LEFT there and then Left again down a little stairway and you should see the Blood Elfy guy doing his thing. Another special note about this quest: The mob spawn will scale to your character level, meaning, if you're a level 15...a level 14-15 mob will spawn for you to kill. Likewise, if you're level 85...the mob spawn will be level 85. From here, you'll pick up "What Now?" which will have you return the quest to Anson or Hudson. It doesn't matter who you give it to really...both will reward you with the Creepy Crate vanity pet. Good luck!

As for other quests...I would start with "A Season For Celebration" which you can pick up from any Human Commoner in Stormwind. (Human Commoners also give a quest called: "Costumed Orphan Matron", which will direct you to Goldshire to pick up even more holiday quests!) From there, you head just outside the gates and you can pick up "A Time To Gain" from Celestine when you turn in "A Season For Celebration (daily)". Most of the other quest givers for Hallow's End along with the Hallow's End vendor are located right near her, so grabbing the rest of the quests will be easy.

You should be able to pick up:

1. A Time To Gain (daily)

2. A Time To Lose (daily)

3. Clean Up In Stormwind (daily)

4. Stink Bombs Away (daily)

5. Hallow's End Treats for Jesper (not a daily quest)

"Hallow's End Treats for Jesper" will require you to visit the innkeepers in Darnassus, Ironforge and Stormwind, along with the Gnomeregan guy right outside of the Forlorn Cavern in the Mystic Ward and complete quick quests in order to get the candy you need. The Gnomeregan Gumdrop giver was the hardest to find. Head to the Mystic Ward and face yourself toward the Forlorn Cavern. To the left of the Forlorn Cavern entrance, there's a little building. Talvash del Kissel will be standing in the building's "porch" with a questclamation point above his head.

There are more quests just down the road from the Stormwind quest givers. Head down to Goldshire to pick up:

1. Fire Brigade Practice - Non-Daily- You can do this quest in Dun Morogh, Goldshire, and Azuremyst Isle.

2. Let The Fires Come - Daily -You can do this quest in Dun Morogh, Goldshire, and Azuremyst Isle.

3. Stop the Fires - Daily -You can do this quest in Dun Morogh, Goldshire, and Azuremyst Isle.

4. Smash the Pumpkin - Daily -You can do this quest in Dun Morogh, Goldshire, and Azuremyst Isle.

There are two additional things I want to mention regarding quests..."Costumed Orphan Matron" is a one time only quest. If you did it last year or a previous year, then you won't be able to pick up this quest. The same goes for "Free At Last" - A quest given by Sir Thomas's Son in Scarlet Monastery after you defeat the Headless Horseman. If you've already done it, you won't be able to do it again...so if you're having trouble finding it, you've probably already done it.

And last, but not least...HOLIDAY LOOT!!!!!!

You can kill the Headless Horseman for a chance at one of four rings:
Band of Ghoulish Glee: +201 Agility, +301 Stamina, +118 Hit Rating, +144 Crit Rating
Seal of the Petrified Pumpkin: +201 Strength, +301 Stamina, +142 Crit Rating, +121 Haste
The Horseman's Signet: +201 Intellect, +301 Stamina, +118 Hit Rating, +144 Haste Rating
The Wicked Witch's Ring: +301 Stamina, +201 Intellect, +134 Spirit, +134 Critical Strike

For those items, you can kill him as many times a day as you want...which is cool...I suppose.

But you can only receive the Loot-Filled Pumpkin ONCE a day. It can contain a number of "common items" like Tricky Treats or masks. The LFP can also contain the Hallowed Helm, Sinister Squashling, Flying Broom...or even more awesome...

The Horseman's Horrific Helmet: +371 Strength, +411 Stamina, +171 Hit, +218 Haste, Use: You can laugh like the horseman. I know this is something a LOT of plate wearing dps people are after right now.

The Horseman's Sinister Saber: Main Hand (1h) Sword...+103 Agility, +290 Stamina, +103 Hit, +103 Expertise, Use: Summon Pumpkin Soldiers to burn your foes! I guess this is good for rogues only. Hunters would be the only one interested in straight agility that I know of...and hunters don't need expertise at all. I wish this was a dagger though. It would be cool to be able to equip it and summon little pumpkin armies with my druid!

And last...but not least...and by far one of the most sought after items of this particular holiday...

The Horseman's Reins: The horseman's mount...it scales to match your level of riding, so it can fly. It's spooky and amazing looking...and I wish my druid could have this...alas...she doesn't and probably never will.

I tried to keep this post as brief as possible, considering everything's basically available on WoWhead. I just know a few people requested a "list" of what to do for the holiday. If you want tips or advice on any of the quests or achievements, feel free to comment below or throw an email to me at: mydruidrocks@aol.com!

Happy Haunting, Everyone!!!