Though not always. Keep at it! Even Santa RNG has a heart.
Past the cut, I’ve revised and expanded our 2009 guide for anyone looking to complete the meta (and earn the title) Merrymaker. Cataclysm has almost certainly affected how you’ll do this holiday, but unfortunately, there’s no hard information yet as to how. I doubt that Blizzard had the time to tinker extensively with Winter Veil in the crush of work surrounding a new expansion, but we’ll see. As always, I’ll be around as the holiday goes live to check and update the article. For the moment, I’ve included some commonsense speculation on likely changes (such as when an NPC’s probably changed locations due to city/topography upheaval).
On Metzen!
This achievement’s probably changed a bit, seeing as to how the Tanaris option for rescuing Metzen is now … er … underwater. However, the Tanaris pirates are still around, so it’s possible that they’ve found somewhere else in the zone to stash everyone’s favorite reindeer.
Saving Metzen for the achievement On Metzen! involves a short but fun quest line that starts with an NPC in Ironforge (if you’re Alliance) with Metzen the Reindeer or an NPC in Orgrimmar (if you’re Horde) with Metzen the Reindeer. The former is between the Ironforge bank and auction house; the latter may have moved a bit due to Garrosh’s newfound talent for civic planning but will probably still be around the Grommash Hold area in the Valley of Strength.
With a Little Helper from My Friends
If you’ve never taken part in Winter Veil previously, what you need to know is that there are machines located outside (or in) most major cities that will give you a buff that turns you into a gnome in a Winter Helper costume. Once you’ve got this buff, you’ll have the costume for an hour, until death, or until clicked off (whichever comes first). Pre-Cataclysm locations were as follows:
- Orgrimmar This was once located next to the zeppelin tower to Undercity/Grom’Gol, which was outside of the city proper. It’s likely to remain in a high-traffic area and may simply have migrated along with the zeppelin tower to the city’s high bluff.
- Ironforge Outside the city’s main gates.
- Undercity At the zeppelin tower to Orgrimmar/Grom’Gol.
- Stormwind Outside the entrance to the flight master.
- Tanaris East of Gadgetzan.
- Booty Bay On the docks.
- Shattrath Just east of the city in Terokkar Forest.
- Dalaran Smack in the middle of the city in Runeweaver Square.
Last year, it was arguably easiest to do this achievement in Wintergrasp, but right now, that zone’s emptied in players’ rush to Cataclysm content. Given that the vast majority of players have yet to reach level 85 and queue for Tol Barad, I’m not sure whether to suggest going there yet either.
On an irritating note for feral druids, the costume is instantly lost upon shapeshifting. Yes, this is an enormous pain in the ass, and no, there’s nothing you can do about it. I would recommend respeccing to balance or restoration for this, or at least plan on getting the achievement by way of vehicle combat.
On a more general note, it wasn’t totally unheard of last year for malicious players to specifically target those with the Winter Helper costume. Keep at it.
Scrooge (Alliance) or Scrooge (Horde)
Alliance will need to toss a snowball at Muradin Bronzebeard in Ironforge; Horde will need to chuck one at Baine Bloodhoof in Thunder Bluff (the achievements previously concerned Magni and Cairne, who are obviously no longer around). Snowballs are very easy to come by during the holiday. You’ll find them sold by Winter Veil NPCs in all major cities, or — if you’re too cheap to shell out 10 copper — you can also get them from snow mounds all over the Alterac Mountains, Dun Morogh, and Winterspring. Those of you still trying for a polar bear mount from the Brunnhildar daily offered by Thyra Kvinnshal will probably also get some in the reward bag each day.
Fa-la-la-la-Ogri’la
If you started playing after The Burning Crusade and aren’t familiar with Ogri’la, it’s a faction of “enlightened ogres” located at 28,57 in Blade’s Edge in Outland (the western side of the zone). You’ll need a flying mount to reach them and complete the quest needed for this achievement, but fortunately you don’t have to have done the starting Ogri’la chain. Even if your character’s never seen the ogres before, the Bomb Them Again! daily will be on offer (at least for the duration of the holiday).
Bomb Them Again! is an pretty easy quest to do, and it’ll only get easier with more players rocking 310 percent flying mounts. You’ll need some Preserved Holly (which you should already have, if you’ve already rescued Metzen) or Fresh Holly (a random reward from /kissingWinter Revelers in inns) to turn your flying mount into a reindeer. And yes, you will need a flying mount, so druids, if you’ve been gadding around with either version of flight form and haven’t bothered to buy an actual mount, you’ll need to drop some gold. Turn your mount into a reindeer, pick up the quest, do your bombing run around the demon cannons on the ridge, turn the quest in, and you’re all set.
‘Tis the Season
The achievement itself is simple, but getting the stuff you need to do it that will take some work.
First off, you’ll need the threads. The chest and boots are fairly simple to get and are crafted by tailors and leatherworkers respectively from patterns bought from Winter Veil NPCs. You’ll need either the Red Winter Clothes or the Green Winter Clothes, plus a pair of Winter Boots. Finished sets command high prices on the auction house during the holiday, so you can save yourself some money by collecting as many of the mats as possible and press-ganging a guild tailor or tipping an independent craftsman to make them. Failing that, the recipes only require 250 tailoring and 285 leatherworking respectively, and if you’ve got an alt with either profession, it might be more cost-effective simply to level the necessary skill rather than shell out to people making a killing off the holiday demand.
The competitive piece is the hat. For Winter Veil, these traditionally dropped off high-level boss mobs in 5-man dungeons. During Wrath, with the Red Winter Hat dropped off Grand Magus Telestra in the Nexus and Jedoga Shadowseeker in Ahn’kahet, and the Green Winter Hat dropped off Mage-Lord Urom in the Oculus. Courtesy of a bug fix that went live the day after Cataclysm premiered, I’m pretty sure that Corla in Blackrock Caverns will be dropping the red hat, but we’re still waiting to see who else will. I’ll update when the holiday goes live. If you lose the roll on the hat, don’t worry; just queue for the dungeon again.
Got your chest, boots, and hat? The fruitcake you need is contained in a package you’ll receive in the hours after completing the quest to save Metzen. Toss on your new duds, choke down the fruitcake (bleh), and you’re done.
Simply Abominable
The short quest line starts with Stolen Winter Veil Treats (for Alliance) or Stolen Winter Veil Treats (for Horde). These will take you to the Strange Snowman NPC in the Alterac Mountains, who will direct you to kill The Abominable Greench, a spawned mob in the area. Although the Greench respawns quickly, the worst part about the quest line is having to tag him before someone else does, so I highly recommend grouping with other people of your faction in the area in order to get this done faster. Once you’ve killed him and looted the Stolen Treats, speak to the Snowman again, then head back to the Ironforge/Orgrimmar Winter Veil NPCs.
Let It Snow
This is a mercifully kinder achievement than others of its ilk in What A Long, Strange Trip It’s Been, because most of the combinations here are fairly common. Statistically speaking, the hardest one to get will probably be the dwarf paladin. You’ll still have to hunt some of them down, of course, but none of them approach the absurdity of having to find a dwarf rogue for Pilgrim’s Bounty. However, the post-Cataclysm world — with the Alliance and Horde largely confined to their own cities back on “old Azeroth” — is going to make this a bit tougher than it was when everyone was holed up in Shattrath or Dalaran. You’ll probably have the best luck sitting around a neutral quest hub in the new Cataclysm leveling zones and waiting for the right race/class combination to appear. Failing that, a lot of players will have to go to Dalaran to get A Frosty Shake done, so you can always give the Wrath hub city a try.
Handful of Snowflakes are random rewards from /kissing Winter Revelers in inns. You’ll need to keep at this long enough to get the 10 handfuls you’ll need and then hunt down the race/class combinations. Target the players in question, right-click your snowflakes, and you’re all set.
Bros. Before Ho Ho Ho’s (Alliance) or Bros. Before Ho Ho Ho’s (Horde)
You’ll need to track down a set of NPCs for this achievement, and while it looks like the Alliance has a lot more legwork to do, in reality, most of their “brothers” are in Stormwind. Track ‘em all down, use the Mistletoe you’ll get as a random gift from /kissing Winter Revelers, and you’re in business.
For the time being, I’m not going to bother with specific coordinates that have probably changed post-Cataclysm, but I’ll update this section as soon as the holiday goes live.
For Alliance
- Brother Nimetz The Rebel Camp in Stranglethorn Vale
- Brother Anton Nijel’s Point in Desolace
- Brother Karman Theramore
- Brother Wilhelm Goldshire
- All of the other brothers can be located in the Stormwind Cathedral or directly outside of it (Brother Kristof, the sole Brother outside, is in Crusader’s Square).
- Brother Malach Undercity’s War Quarter
- Durkot Wolfbrother Warsong Hold (near the stables housing the wolves)
- Brother Keltan Located aboard the Horde gunship, Orgrim’s Hammer, that patrols the northeastern portion of Icecrown
The cooking skills you may have acquired during Pilgrim’s Bounty are going to come in handy here, because you’ll need to cook up three holiday recipes. The Gingerbread Cookie, Egg Nog, and Hot Apple Cider recipes are all sold by Winter Veil NPCs in major cities, although the Hot Apple Cider recipe is only sold by their Ironforge and Orgrimmar counterparts. I also recall my main getting mailed the cider recipe instead of having to buy it, so you may not necessarily have to drop the money on it. As a shopping list for all three recipes, plan on buying or getting:
- 1 Ice Cold Milk: Sold by innkeepers just about everywhere
- 2 Holiday Spirits: Sold by Winter’s Veil NPCs
- 1 Sparkling Apple Cider: Sold by Winter’s Veil NPCs
- 3 Holiday Spices: Sold by Winter’s Veil NPCs
- 2 Small Egg: Dropped most commonly (and conveniently) by Eversong dragonhawk mobs for Horde and moonkin mobs east of Auberdine for Alliance. You’ll also find a ton of these sold at wildly inflated prices on the auction house if you can’t be bothered to make the trip.
He Knows if You’ve Been Naughty
Opening one of the presents beneath the Ironforge or Orgrimmar tree is quite simple — you’ll just need to wait on the presents to start spawning, which will start happening on Dec. 25 and will continue until the end of the holiday. When this happens, you’ll see a series of quests spawn on top of specific presents, and all you have to do is right-click on one to open it. You used to have to wait for other presents to spawn, but last year you were able to get all your presents at once, which was quite nice.
As an aside, both the Clockwork Rocket Bot from 2007 and the Crashin’ Thrashin’ Racer from 2008 went on to become feats of strength, so if there’s a new toy or noncombat pet offered through the gifts this year, hang onto it just in case. The 2009 gift, the Red Rider Air Rifle, turned out to be associated with a new Winter Veil achievement called BB King (Alliance) / BB King (Horde) that’s still around but not required for the Merrymaker meta.
A Frosty Shake
This achievement sounds pretty straightforward, but you’ll actually need to line up three things for it:
- the Winter Veil Disguise Kit:
- a Snowball
- another willing Snowman in Dalaran.
The disguise kit is easy to get — it’s an unannounced reward from completing the questline needed for Simply Abominable, so if you’ve done that achievement, you can expect to receive the disguise kit in the mail within the next 24 hours. Snowballs, as previously stated, can be purchased from holiday NPCs, picked up from snowy areas around the world, or dropped from Hyldnir Spoils. Finding snowmen in Dalaran will be easy during the first few days of the holiday, but the number will start dwindling as time goes on, so you’re probably better off doing this achievement sooner rather than later. That said, there were a number of generous souls on my server who simply parked themselves on the bank steps as a snowman and /danced the night away to enable others to get their achievement, and — as with the people who rolled rogues of underplayed races and got them summoned to Dalaran for Pilgrim’s Bounty — I wish nothing but the happiest of fortunes upon them this holiday season.
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