Tis the Season: Winter Veil is Here!

EDIT: I’ve throw in some additional tips (COMPLETION NOTES) and I will be checking off the ones I complete, so check back regularly!

——————————————————-

December 15th has hit and that can only mean one thing for Warcraft – Winter Veil is here!  Winter Veil is the in-game Christmas event that lets players deck the halls with boughs of holly, and it’s even more fun this year.  With the expansion came the achievement system (similar to XBOX 360′s system), and if you complete all of the Winter Veil achievements, you earn yourself a fun little title ( [Name] the Merrymaker)!  Also, completing all holiday achievements gives you access to this bad boy flying mount:

The Elusive Proto-Drake, in Purple flavor

So you’re probably wondering, what do I have to do to get this achievement?  What’s the best way to do it?  Well, look beyond the cut!

First of all, you’re probably wonder where you have to go to even start this!  You can find Winter Veil NPCs (along with Greatfather Winter himself) in Ironforge and Ogrimmar, right near their respective entrances.  From there, you’ll see a bunch of quests available, most of which are steps towards getting your achievements.  I’ve listed all the Winter Veil achievements below, scaling from easy to hard:
EASY ACHIEVEMENTS

Scrooge! – COMPLETE

Easy easy easy.  You just have to purchase a snowball and throw it at either King Magni Bronzebeard (Alliance, Ironforge) or Cairne Bloodhoof (Alliance, Thunder Bluff). Get it out of the way and do it first.

He Knows If You’ve Been Naughty

This achievement has you opening a present from Greatfather Winter.  Really easy, though you can’t complete it until 25th to January 2nd.  Still easy though, every player gets one.

Crashin’ and Thrashin’

Once December 25th hits, one of your presents will be a Crashin’ Thrashin’ racer and to get this achievement you have to crash the toy 25 times with other players.

A Frosty Shake – COMPLETE

By completing the “Stolen Winter Veil Treats” quest, you get a Winter Veil Disguise kit that makes you look like a snowman.  Just wear it, jump over to Dalaran and dance with another snowman!

COMPLETION NOTE: There are a ton of snowmen wandering around Dalaran.  Don’t forget to bring a snowball to activate the Disguise kit!

MEDIUM ACHIEVEMENTS

On Metzen – COMPLETE

This quest has you saving the Reindeer Metzen from the Dark Iron Dwarves.  He can be found in Tanaris for the Horde and Searing Gorge for the Alliance.  You just have to talk to the Reindeer, sprinkle some dust on him and voila!  You get the Achivement completion once you hand in the quest.  You also get some Preserved Holly, which you’ll need later.

COMPLETION NOTE: The Alliance Metzen can be found in the top right hand corner of the map, for the Alliance.

Simply Abominable – COMPLETE

You have to complete the “Stolen Winter Veil Treats” questline, which has you going to Alterac Valley to kill the Abominable Greech (a giant yeti).  I completed this yesterday with relative ease, though there are a LOT of players camped around there and as of now, he’s a rare spawn.  I would recommend grouping up and start huntin’!

COMPLETION NOTE: The spawn rate has been upped dramatically with at least three Greeches spawning right after each other.  Pick a spot and circle it.  Did this without even grouping.

Let it Snow – COMPLETE

You have to throw a Handful of Snowflakes (which you get when you /kiss on a Winter Reveler) onto the following class/race combinations:

Orc Death Knight
Tauren Shaman
Undead Rogue
Gnome Mage
Blood Elf Warlock
Human Warrior
Night Elf Druid
Troll Hunter
Dwarf Paladin
Draenei Priest

You can probably find any of the combinations from your faction in Ogrimmar or Ironforge and find the rest in the battlegrounds or where you kill the Abominable Greech, since both factions hang out there.

COMPLETION NOTE: I did most of this in battlegrounds and in Ironforge.  Shouldn’t be too easy – I would recommend putting it on an actionbar so you can quickly hit it before they try to kill you.

Bro’s Before Ho-ho-ho’s – COMPLETE

This quest has you finding these “Brother” NPCs spread out all over the world and using mistletoe on them.  You can find a guide to the brothers here:

Alliance
Horde

The mistletoe is found by doing a “/kiss” on Winter Revelers and it’s a rare drop, so better save some up.  You also can only “/kiss” one per hour (you get a debuff) and the debuff only counts when you’re logged in, but the Revelers are found in all the inns.

COMPLETION NOTE: That guide is extremely helpful.  I was able to save up my mistletoe so I could do it in one go-round.

DIFFICULT ACHIEVEMENTS

Tis the Season

For this, you have to wear a full Winter Veil clothing set and eat Graccu’s Mince Meat Fruitcake.  The clothing set is made up of Red Clothes/Green Clothes (which is a tailoring recipe you can purchase from the Winter Veil Quartermaster), Winter Boots (made by a leatherworker, same purchase location) and a Red/Green hat, which is a rare drop off bosses.  From what I’ve found, you can get the hats off select bosses in Northrend (The Nexus, Ahn’Kahet and Occulus), but they are no longer found in soloable dungeons.  I would recommend running the Nexus, since you can hit that boss without hitting the others.  Plus it’s the lowest level dungeon, so you can easily farm it with a strong group.

The Mince Meat Fruitcake is a present for completing the Metzen quest and is mailed to you.  You can also find it in a package mailed to you after completing “Treats for Greatfather Winter.” So all in all, this might take a little time/effort to put together.

Fa-la-la-la-la-Ogrila

Remember that Preserved Holly I mentioned before?  Well you’re gonna need it for this one.  You have to complete the achievement “Bomb them Again!” while you have Preserved Holly on your flying mount.  In order to even get this quest, you have to complete the Ogrila chain, which contains many five-man quests.  I doubt you’ll be able to solo this, but there are a ton of Death Knights looking to do this, so finding a group shouldn’t be a problem.  Preserved Holly and Fresh Holly (which does the same effect) can be found off quests and Revelers.

With a Little Helper From My Friends – COMPLETE

This one I’m dreading… you have to get 50 honorable kills as a “Little Helper.”  In front of Ironforge and Ogrimmar are machines that turn you into “Little Helpers” and you have the buff for 30 minutes.  The problem is that it does not persist through death, so if you die, you lose the buff and you’ll either have to drop out of the battleground or finish it up.  In either case, kind of a pain.

COMPLETION NOTE: I finished this up with no problem!  I ran Strand of the Ancients during a peak time and was able to get 25 honorable kills without dying.  Tag and stay towards the back (like a coward).  The other 25 I got from running one game of Alterac Valley.  Luckily, there was a huge skirmish and I was able to throw a Death and Decay (a DK AOE) and get credit for tons of kills in less than five minutes. Stay away from Battlegrounds that require 1 vs 1 combat, like Warsong, Arathi and Eye of the Storm.

The Winter Veil Gourmet

For me, this achievement sucks too.  You have to make the three Winter Veil exclusive treats – Gingerbread Cookie, Egg Nog, Hot Apple Cider.  Making the first two are simple, but the Hot Apple Cider requires 325 cooking, and I’m at, oh yeah, 37.  So I have a mighty long grind ahead for me.  You can buy these at the Winter Veil quartermaster, don’t get ripped off and buy them for 20-30g on the Auction House.  The small eggs needed for the first two can be found on low level birds in the 5-10 and 15-20 racial starting areas, so once again, don’t waste your money on AH.

EDIT: If you’re a DK like me, you probably have a low cooking skill.  I found this great guide here that will help you level up in no time.

———————————————————-

So personally, I’ll be doing all the easy, quest related stuff first.  I only have a limited time to play now-a-days, so I’d rather get the quest-related achievements first before I put my time into getting cooking skilled up or running “The Nexus” over and over.  So I’d recommend doing the same.  That way, if you’re still playing next year, you can easy complete the rest of the achievements!

With a bit of committment, this shouldn’t be too hard.  Happy Winter Veil!