The OverAchiever: Guide to Winter Veil
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Before anyone asks, Winter Veil runs from Tuesday, December 15th to Saturday, January 2nd in 2009/2010, and this is article is about what you'll need to do in that period to complete the meta (and earn the title) Merrymaker. Unlike November's holiday, Pilgrim's Bounty, Merrymaker is required for the yearlong meta What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been, so don't slack on this one if you want that violet protodrake!
On Metzen!
Saving Metzen for the achievement On Metzen! is a short but fun questline that starts with an NPC in front of the Ironforge bank (if you're Alliance) with Metzen the Reindeer, or an NPC in front of the Orgrimmar AH (if you're Horde) with Metzen the Reindeer. The quest ends in either Searing Gorge or Tanaris, whichever is more convenient to you.
Either zone you hit, try to do the Metzen quest first, as you'll need rewards from it for two of the following achievements.
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 turn you into a gnome in a Winter Helper costume. Locations are as follows:
- Orgrimmar: Next to the zeppelin tower to Undercity/Grom'Gol.
- Ironforge: Outside the city's main gates.
- Undercity: At the zeppelin tower to Orgrimmar/Grom'Gol.
- Stormwind: Outside the entrance to the flightmaster.
- 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.
Yes, my fellow druids, you lose the costume instantly upon shapeshifting. Yes, this is an enormous pain in the ass. Yes, if you are feral, I highly recommend respeccing into Balance or Resto in order to do this, or at least plan on getting this achievement by way of vehicle combat. Life is not fair. Did I mention the possibility of getting Coal in your presents?
Scrooge (Alliance) or Scrooge (Horde)
Alliance will need to toss a snowball at Magni Bronzebeard; Horde will need to chuck one at Cairne Bloodhoof. Pretty easy, particularly because snowballs are so easy to come by around the holiday. You'll find them sold by Winter Veil NPC's in all major cities, or -- if you're such a miser that you can't shell out the 10 copper -- doing the Brunnhildar daily offered by Thyra Kvinnshal will usually net you a few instead of the polar bear mount that I have yet to see after more than a year. Not that I am bitter.
Fa-la-la-la-Ogri'la
UPDATE: One our readers wrote in to note that the initial Ogri'la quest chain, while still available in the game, is no longer required to unlock the Ogri'la dailies. I just confirmed this with an alt who hadn't started the Ogri'la quest chain. If you have a character without any previous Ogri'la rep, all you'll need to to do is run them to Ogri'la (28,57) in Blade's Edge and get started.
Bomb Them Again! is an easy quest to do, but in order to have access to it, you'll need to have done an initial Ogri'la questline and will also need some Preserved Holly (which you should already have if you've already rescued Metzen) or Fresh Holly (a random reward from /kissing Winter 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 actually bothered to buy one, you'll need to drop some gold.
Chu'a'lor in Ogri'la will give you a short quest chain starting with The Crystals and ending with The Relic's Emanation. This will unlock other Ogri'la quests, among them Our Boy Wants to be a Skyguard Ranger from Torkus, which will eventually take you a hop, skip, and a jump over to the Skyguard questing area north of Ogri'la. There, Sky Sergeant Vanderlip will give you Bombing Run, and (upon successful completion) the quest you actually need for Fa-la-la-la-Ogri'la, which is Bomb Them Again! Turn your mount into a reindeer, complete the quest, and you're all set.
This is just a bare-bones guide due to space concerns, but if it's your first time doing the Ogri'la chain and you want to do the full questline with assorted lore and gold rewards, Molsan Method has written a much more detailed guide to getting yourself squared away for Fa-la-la-la-Ogri'la that I thought was extremely useful. I would recommend reading this in the event that Ogri'la is a completely new deal for you.
'Tis the Season
As with Fa-la-la-la-Ogri'la, the achievement itself is simple -- it's getting the stuff you need to do it that will take some work.
First off, you'll need the threads. The chest items and boots are fairly simple to pick up, and are crafted by Tailors and Leatherworkers respectively from patterns that can be bought from Winter Veil NPC's. You'll need either the Red Winter Clothes or the Green Winter Clothes, plus a pair of Winter Boots. Finished sets of these, as you might expect, command high prices on the AH 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 have dropped off high-level boss mobs in 5-man dungeons, and last year was no different, with the Red Winter Hat dropping off Grand Magus Telestra in the Nexus and Jedoga Shadowseeker in Ahn'kahet, and the Green Winter Hat dropping off Mage-Lord Urom in the Oculus. We assume that the hats will still be dropping off these mobs in 2009/2010, but we'll update you in the hours after the holiday goes live if we find otherwise. For many classes, Telestra is soloable at 80, but again, if this isn't true for you, there will be plenty of groups formed for Nexus and Ahn'kahet with the sole intent of farming hats. Somehow I doubt that Oculus will be the most popular option of the three even post-nerf.
The fruitcake itself 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 questline starts with Stolen Winter Veil Treats (for Alliance) or Stolen Winter Veil Treats (for Horde). These will take you to the Strange Snowman NPC at 35,72 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 questline 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 NPC's.
Click the link below for the rest of the guide on Winter Veil!
Filed under: How-tos, Events, Features, Guides, Achievements, The Overachiever
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Scott Dec 14th 2009 11:12AM
Tis the season of jackasses on mammoths camping the presents.
/facepalm
John Dec 14th 2009 11:23AM
Have your baby-spice handy!
Deadly. Off. Topic. Dec 14th 2009 11:27AM
Even without the furry elephants, you'll just have dozens among dozens of players standing on top of the presents and NOT budging an inch. >_
Jamie Dec 14th 2009 11:52AM
Makes me wish we could use Blast Wave on those nabs, busting them so far into the deep pits of Ironforge, over and over.
lisacurl Dec 15th 2009 1:48PM
FYI: You can click on the exclamation point/question mark itself if you can see it but not the present.
Dotixi Dec 14th 2009 11:14AM
Yay for Winter Veil!
bob Dec 14th 2009 11:20AM
Leather workers, what are you planning on listing the boots for on the AH? This is my first holiday as a LW.
EderX Dec 15th 2009 11:46AM
There will be lots of very expensive holiday clothes on the AH. Expect competition.
ZMES_Matt Dec 14th 2009 11:26AM
So, is there any information on whether or not we can repeat the Metzen quest this year, if we did it last year?
I completed the quest last year, and not knowing that I would need the fruitcake for an achievment, used it all. I was hoping I'd be able to get some this year, as 'Tis the season' is the only achievment left that I need for both Merrymaker and What a Long Strange Trip it's been...
:(
Deadly. Off. Topic. Dec 14th 2009 11:28AM
You were able to redo it again last year if you had done it the year before, so I don't see why it wouldn't be this year.
artifex Dec 16th 2009 12:59PM
Metzen is repeatable.
Scrooge isn't :)
damdams Jan 14th 2010 11:18PM
Great guide!
Wrox Dec 14th 2009 11:41AM
I was hoping for some info on BB King, the last achievement in the Winter Veil list. The text says to "pelt" them; I'm assuming that's with snowballs, right? Or will I need to level skinning and go all Harold Lane on them?
jtnak8 Dec 14th 2009 11:47AM
Im assuming the new toy will be a BB gun and thus pelting someone with BBs will result in achievement and the fun without any longtime marks.
Jamie Dec 14th 2009 11:48AM
After the great guide you guys did for Pilgrim's Bounty, I'm really looking forward to Winter Veil.
Another great guide, thanks!
maeby Dec 14th 2009 11:48AM
bb king sounds like it could be a tough achiev to get. getting into the other factions city is hard enough, let alone getting all the way to the faction leader, and aggroing it!
ZMES_Matt Dec 14th 2009 12:00PM
Don't forget your invisibility pots!
I recommend riding in as far as you can go on your mount, and you can usually get to their leader that way, the tricky part is getting out of the city once the deed is done. If you're going this achievment alone, like I'm prone to doing, then you may have to body hop out of the city, for this reason I put invisibility pots on a hotkey and start spamming it while I'm a ghost right before I click to rez, so the very instant I revive I'm invisible and have 15 seconds to get to the front gates, and if possible, break invisibility by mounting up again, so by the time you've phased back in you're most of the way mounted, at which point: Profit!
:D
P.S. Keep in mind that if you try to mount within guard-aggro range then you'll instantly be entered into combat, canceling your mount-up cast.
JC_Icefox Dec 14th 2009 4:12PM
You other option to complete this acheivement will be to join the inevitable For the Horde/Alliance! capital city raids that will be happening once the guns are available.
Also, don't forget that BB King is NOT part of the Long, Strange Meta, so there is one small blessing to count if you are truly loathe to visit opposing capitals.
Now, Mr. Wrynn, you have been sentenced to Death by Pellet by our Cows with Guns Firing Squad. Can I interest you in a Blindfold? Cigarrette?
Christopher Garry Dec 14th 2009 12:34PM
With regard to "Fa-la-la-la-Ogri'la, in order to have access to it, you need to have done the initial Ogri'la questline" This is should not imply that the original lenghty Ogri'la quest openers are required. As of recently, the quest for the achievement is "Bomb them again" and opens after only one or two pre-quests which can be researched on Wowhead.
Molsan Dec 14th 2009 1:27PM
If you are interested in the whole Ogri'la chain, check out my guide that was referenced in this article at molsanmethod.com.