Holiday Leftover

(Delaney is on vacation so her evil alter ego will be posting this entry. For content without the bitter aftertaste check out the post from last year or check out my new favorite source for WoW Holiday information: Mortal Ken's Noblegarden page.)

Blizzard announced that:

Noblegarden comes but once a year,
ushering in a day of cheer...
for no one has a thing to fear from painted eggs and festive gear.

A day??? It used to be weak when it was a month long. Now it's a single day?

But then again, exactly how long should we be crashing the newbie zones stealing their rare opportunity to participate in holiday content?

The Clothes
If you want to torture yourself to find the fancy clothes, open a LOT of eggs, because that's how you get them. And there's only a 1/2 a percent chance they'll drop so Good Luck.

Or if you're an Alliance tailor, just go buy the Tuxedo patterns from this guy and make your own tuxedo:

I'm not too worried about missing this event because essentially the Nobles are just putting their trash out and we're picking it up - leftover candy from old holidays ... old clothes ... a couple copper to mask that rich people's cubbard smell...

Now... if there was a chance to see huge Easter Bunnies like in the WoWwiki pictures from the Warcraft days that'd be a different story...

2007-March Events

From the Events Calendar for March:

Event	Dates
Darkmoon Faire (Mulgore)	Mon Mar 5 - Sun Mar 11
Lunar Festival	Fri Feb 16 - Thur Mar 8
Call to Arms: Arathi Basin!	Mar 2 - Mar 5
Call to Arms: Eye of the Storm!	Mar 9 - Mar 12
Call to Arms: Alterac Valley!	Mar 16 - Mar 19
Call to Arms: Warsong Gulch!	Mar 23 - Mar 26
Call to Arms: Arathi Basin!	Mar 30 - Apr 2

Calls to Arms occur during most weekends, starting on Thursday night at midnight and continuing until Tuesday morning. During a Call to Arms, emmissaries from that Battleground will be found in the major cities, and honor/faction rewards for performing objectives in that battleground are increased.

Active Date to Inactive Date

I've been hestitating to make this determination, but I think now I can. Here it is, and hopefully I will remember it in the future:

The Event Calendar shows "Active Date" to "Inactive Date."

In other words, when it says an event will run from, say, the 11th to the 16th, then that means the last day is the 15th and not the 16th. If I wake up and log on on the 16th then the event will be closed. Over.

2007-February Events

From the Events Calendar for February:

Event	Dates
Darkmoon Faire (Elwynn)	Mon Feb 5 - Sun Feb 11
Love is in the Air	Sun Feb 11 - Fri Feb 16
Lunar Festival	Fri Feb 16 - Thur Mar 8
Call to Arms: Arathi Basin!	Feb 2 - Feb 5
Call to Arms: Eye of the Storm!	Feb 9 - Feb 12
Call to Arms: Alterac Valley!	Feb 16 - Feb 19
Call to Arms: Warsong Gulch!	Feb 23 - Feb 26

Calls to Arms occur during most weekends, starting on Thursday night at midnight and continuing until Tuesday morning. During a Call to Arms, emmissaries from that Battleground will be found in the major cities, and honor/faction rewards for performing objectives in that battleground are increased.

2006-December Events

From the Events Calendar for December:

Event	Dates
Darkmoon Faire (Elwynn)	Mon December 4 - Sun December 10
Feast of Winterveil	Fri December 15 - Fri December 29
New Year's Eve	Sun December 31
Call to Arms: Warsong Gulch!	December 1 - December 4
Call to Arms: Arathi Basin!	December 8 - December 11
Call to Arms: Alterac Valley!	December 22 - December 25
Call to Arms: Warsong Gulch!	December 29 - December 31

During a Call to Arms, emmissaries from that Battleground will be found in the major cities, and honor/faction rewards for performing objectives in that battleground are increased.

I can't wait to dive into the Feast of Winterveil. It's one of the best times in the game for me.

2006-November Events

From the Events Calendar for November:

Event	Dates
Darkmoon Faire (Mulgore)	Mon November 6 - Sun November 12
Call to Arms: Warsong Gulch!	November 3 - November 6
Call to Arms: Arathi Basin!	November 10 - November 13
Call to Arms: Alterac Valley!	November 24 - November 27

During a Call to Arms, emmissaries from that Battleground will be found in the major cities, and honor/faction rewards for performing objectives in that battleground are increased.

The next Holiday event is THE Holiday event (imho) - Winterveil. But we have to wait a bit - it is currently scheduled to run December 15 - January 2 (according to the Winterveil page) or December 22 - January 4 (according to the Events Calendar page).

2006-October Events

As I mentioned, September was a yawner but October looks like it's going to shape up twice as nice! Hallow's End has always been full of fun little content and decorations. But with the Harvest Festival thrown in as well it's going to be a busy month. Too bad this is a terrible time for me at work!

From the Events Calendar for October:

Event	Dates
Harvest Festival	Tue October 3 - Mon October 9
Darkmoon Faire (Elwynn)	Mon October 9 - Sun October 15
Hallow's End	Wed October 18 - Wed November 1*
Call to Arms: Warsong Gulch!	October 6 - October 9
Call to Arms: Arathi Basin!	October 13 - October 16
Call to Arms: Alterac Valley!	October 27 - October 30

During a Call to Arms, emmissaries from that Battleground will be found in the major cities, and honor/faction rewards for performing objectives in that battleground are increased.

* One month ago this was going to run from the 14th through the end of the month. When I checked it again after the Harvest Festival information was released we seemed to lose a few days (now starts on the 18th).

I know it must be tough as a developer to keep dates straight (I blame, but cannot yet prove, copying and pasting of previous year data!) . It just makes it also tough as a player to plan ahead when dates keep changing and :

1. Holidays are one of my favorite parts of the game, so I want to find time to play them and
2. I also have to juggle real life needs (In this case getting a ton of work done before November 1st). The good news for me is that I have to travel to a conference the second week of October. Luckily that's during the Darkmoon Faire which is around every month.

I'm also going to try to watch when Hallow's End actually ends. Does it matter that October 31st is a Tuesday? Will it be effective on November 1st or not in effect on November 1st? (I think I would read it as in effect on that date an I think Blizzard means it won't be.)

2006-September Events

From the Events Calendar for September:

Darkmoon Faire (Mulgore) September 4 - September 10

Call to Arms: Alterac Valley! September 1 - September 4

Call to Arms: Warsong Gulch! September 8 - September 11

Call to Arms: Arathi Basin! September 15 - September 18

Call to Arms: Alterac Valley! September 29 - October 1

During a Call to Arms, emmissaries from that Battleground will be found in the major cities, and honor/faction rewards for performing objectives in that battleground are increased.

September is a yawner, but October will be fun - Hallow's End 2006 is currently scheduled for October 14 through November 1. Here are some screenshot winners and honorable mentions (which were better than the winners imho) from last year to whet your appetite.

2006-August Events

Well it looks like August and September are shaping up to be uneventful...

From the Events Calendar for August:

Darkmoon Faire (Elwynn) August 7 - August 13

Call to Arms: Alterac Valley! August 4 - August 7

Call to Arms: Warsong Gulch! August 11 - August 14

Call to Arms: Arathi Basin! August 18 - August 21

During a Call to Arms, emmissaries from that Battleground will be found in the major cities, and honor/faction rewards for performing objectives in that battleground are increased.

2006-July Events

From the Events Calendar for July:

MidSummer Fire Festival June 21-July 5

Darkmoon Faire (Mulgore) July 10 - July 16

Call to Arms: Alterac Valley! July 7 - July 10

Call to Arms: Warsong Gulch! July 14 - July 17

Call to Arms: Arathi Basin! July 21 - July 24

During a Call to Arms, emmissaries from that Battleground will be found in the major cities, and honor/faction rewards for performing objectives in that battleground are increased.

2006-June Events

From the Events Calendar for June:

Darkmoon Faire (Elwynn) June 5 - June 11

Call to Arms: Alterac Valley! June 9 - June 12

Call to Arms: Warsong Gulch! June 16 - June 19

Call to Arms: Arathi Basin! June 23 - June 26

During a Call to Arms, emmissaries from that Battleground will be found in the major cities, and honor/faction rewards for performing objectives in that battleground are increased.

June will be a little boring for the lack of any special events. The next annual event is the Engineers' Explosive Extravaganza which is currently scheduled for July 4th. That nicely coincides with the US Holiday but it'll be on a Tuesday. I would suggest they line it up with Canada Day (July 1st) which is a Saturday this year. But that's just one player's opinion.

Children's Week Dates

Children's Week Dates:
The other night I emailed the error to the worldofwarcraft.com webmaster that the Children's Week dates looked wrong.

One location said the event would run next week and another said it was running now. Judging by the fact that I went and got the quest, I figured the one that was wrong was the one that said it wasn't until next week.

Wrong. Check out the updated Events Page:

May 1, 2005
(Said May 1-8)

May 2, 2005
(Now it says May 9-16)

And now you can no longer start the quest:

Surprisingly, though, I can still whistle up the orphan on the one character I had who took the quest.

So, bottom line? (1) I am apparently a date crasher. And (2) Children's Week isn't until Next Week. (But ask me again tomorrow, the answer might change.)

2006-May Events

From the Events Calendar for May:

Children's Week **See Note Below**

Darkmoon Faire (Mulgore) May 9 - May 16

Call to Arms: Alterac Valley! May 12 - May 15

Call to Arms: Warsong Gulch! May 19 - May 22

Call to Arms: Arathi Basin! May 26 - May 29

During a Call to Arms, emmissaries from that Battleground will be found in the major cities, and honor/faction rewards for performing objectives in that battleground are increased.

**Children's Week**

Well this is another booboo in dates in the Event Calendar. Children's week on the Events Calendar says it starts next week (May 9 - May 16).

However, the Children's Week section of the "In-game-events" page says it's running now (May 1 - May 8th).

Which is it? Apparently the latter because it's running NOW.

I used the link at the bottom of the Events/Calendar page to "Report Page Error." Hopefully that'll get this fixed up.

Of further interest is the fact that Noblegarden now says "April 16" as the calendar date(s). BIG change from what was previously posted as running for a month!
See the history of date problems here and here.

2006-April Events

From the Events Calendar for April:

Darkmoon Faire (Elwynn) April 10 - April 16

Noblegarden April 16 - May 20

Call to Arms: Arathi Basin! April 7 - April 10

Call to Arms: Alterac Valley! April 21 - April 24

Call to Arms: Warsong Gulch! April 28 - May 1

During a Call to Arms, emmissaries from that Battleground will be found in the major cities, and honor/faction rewards for performing objectives in that battleground are increased.

2006-March Events

From the Events Calendar for March:

Darkmoon Faire (Mulgore) March 6 - March 12

Call to Arms: Arathi Basin! March 3 - March 6

Call to Arms: Alterac Valley! March 17 - March 20

Call to Arms: Warsong Gulch! March 24 - March 27

During a Call to Arms, emmissaries from that Battleground will be found in the major cities, and honor/faction rewards for performing objectives in that battleground are increased.

Noblegarden date change?

From Blizzard's World of Warcraft News page:

Events Calendar
Check out our new Events Calendar for World of Warcraft!
This calendar provides you with the exact dates for the many different events that take place throughout the year in World of Warcraft. Now you can see when each event begins and ends, so you'll never miss out on the fun! Also, whenever a new event is introduced to World of Warcraft, the calendar and our In-Game Events page will be updated with the latest information about the new addition to the game, so make sure to check back often!

Interestingly, this page says Noblegarden will run from April 16 - May 20.

But previously I posted on the fact that the In Game Events page says (and still does as I write this) March 22 - April 25.

My guess is that the one on the new calendar page is the better to estimate with since the nearby calendar specifically says 2006. The date on the In Game Events page may just be a leftover from last year.