Just when ah’ wis gettin’ rid o’ the hangover fae Brewfest Hallow’s End arrives.  Ah dinnae ken why we celebrate the Forsaken’s holiday but, well, ah’m no gonna gie up a chance fer a wee celebration!

Hallow’s End is here again and I’m enjoying it immensely! This is the holiday of silly amounts of sweeties, copious costumes and er… bountiful bats?

Last year, Hallow’s End was the first of the revamped holidays.  It had a new boss, new shiny loot and quests in the starting towns.  It was the beginning of the truly interactive world events - ones which lured even those who had never thought to do a world event before.

It did this by giving away shinies - rings equivalents to the badge loot ones, as well as brooms, a non-combat pet and a plate helm with some funny on-use effects.  I had wondered how they would deal with this holiday, the first of the revamped, when it came to this year - many people are well geared and we’re close to the new expansion. Would it be more or less challenging? Would they keep the same format?

Well, it seems that for the most part the event for this year is very much the same but with the addition of some new loot - [The Horseman's Blade] and [The Horseman's Reins]!

Phat Lewts

For a lot of people, the event is simply a nice way to get the loot mentioned above, a chance to deck out a new alt in some purples or to get a hold of some items which are a just a little bit different or funky.  [The Horseman's Helm] amused me when I first saw it and the one-use effect of his blade is rather neat.  The [Sinister Squashling] and [Hallowed Helm] alongside the [Magic Broom] and perhaps even the Horseman’s Reins make up what has become the ‘usual fare’ for events - mounts, flavour items and pets.

Unusual or Unfair Holiday Drops ?

The story of the Headless Horseman - a vengeful spirit gone mad - is a nice addition to the Halloween theme (ghost stories!) and I can see why they give items pertaining to the actual ‘boss’ but it does seem a tad unfair that two of the high quality items he drops are only for a limited subset of classes - neither my druid nor shaman can use either item.  It would have been nice if they had added some fun on-use to the hallowed helm or something.  He drops the rings, of course, but it’s more the fun effect which I feel many classes miss out on - the laughing helm is wonderfully iconic.  I’d say the [Frostscythe of the Lord Ahune] somewhat made up for that but it excludes rogues and paladins.  It’s not a major issue but perhaps a nice mace or dagger for the next big holiday boss drop?  The scythe, helm and sword are very noticeable and different and are the sort of thing you keep even when they are no longer ‘useful’.  I’m not advocating giving everyone free and easy items of this sort (as making them more common would, I guess, take a little of their ’specialness’ away) but it would be nice to see a greater variation.

Trick or Treat?

Trick or Treating is a little less tedious than the Ancestors quests from the Lunar Festival or the Midsummer Fires - there are a lot fewer of them (as they’re restricted to places with inns) and each is very close to a flight point.  The quests also give a decent amount of experience (around 890 for my level 22 paladin) and a little gold (3g 75s at 70).

Holiday Achievements

The other addition to the holiday is, of course, achievements associated with it.  I have a post centred around those in the works so I won’t go into too much detail on them here but I do think the achievements system has really boosted the attendance of the event - those who do not care about the ‘epix loot’ are still struggling to get themselves a pet or a pumpkin helm for the event.

Of course, given it’s a limited time event the trouble has already started concerning achievements - people want them to be realistically available within the timeframe but others complain that it’s not really an ‘achievement if it’s easy.  I won’t step into the argument now but it does seem that the complaints about this have made some items easier to get -  the squashling and helm drop in trick or treat bags since the last maintenance  and some of the sub-achievements will even be excluded from the ‘title’ achievement - the one to get 20 of the masks.

In total there are around 160 achievement points available for Hallow’s End.

Random Decoration

Hallow’s End has my favourite decorations - the pumpkins and candles etc. are so very ‘wow’ in theme and give the whole place a creepy feeling.

Other fun things which come alongside the Hallow’s End festival, which makes it somewhat unque, are the critters running around - Black Cats roam the streets and bats fly overhead.  Killing a black cat will even give you bad luck!

Holiday Overload

I’m in two minds over Hallow’s End time-wise.  Obviously they can’t move ‘Halloween’ but having another of the ‘big’ yearly events happen so close to the last has actually made me want a little break from the festivities.  I think, though, this may be a consequence of not just the events being close together but also the addition of the new patch and the pre-Wrath event.

Of course, having zombies running around and plagues spreading whilst everyone is running around in skeleton or ghost costumes is a stroke of genius and very nicely timed on Blizz’s part.

Enjoy the rest of the festivities, though  I fear they may be a little overshadowed by all of the real undead walking around…