Posted by Amatera on Monday, November 2nd, 2009 - 25 Comments
Tags: Achievements, candy, costumes, hallow's end, headless horseman, meta, pilgrim's bounty, scarlet monestary, sinister squashling, toothpick, violet proto drake, winters veil
Now that everyone is busy shaking their maracas and eating skull pastries, why don’t we take a quick look back at the other celebration that just passed? Easy things like bobbing for apples and eating G.N.E.R.Ds will only get you so far during Hallow’s End. To truly “complete” the holiday you have to contend with pesky content lock-outs (read: wait a whole hour to Trick or Treat again) or terrible, terrible drop rates on items. Earning the associated achievements can be a lot like going door to door and begging for candy. Sometimes you get Sour Patch Kids in your bucket and, well, sometimes you’re left with black licorice (or even dental floss by that one lady in the neighborhood). Under that pretense, I ask: what was your haul?
The one thing that stood between me and total holiday domination!
Personally, after last year, I only needed a Sinister Squashling to complete my meta-achievement, so the first thing I jumped on was getting a group together for the Headless Horseman. After four days of plunging deep into the heart of the Scarlet Monastery, it finally dropped. A fellow guild member felt slighted after I won the roll. I won’t lie, finding the last piece of the puzzle was a tad more satisfying than worrying about someone else who had just started doing the achievements this year. I’d been waiting a very long time! But, lo and behold, after all those other misfires, another Squashling dropped on the next attempt, so we all left that day pretty happy with ourselves. However, the Horseman’s mount continued to evade me for the duration of the event.
After that, I considered myself more or less done. I think I continued to Trick or Treat for a day or two in the hopes of earning masks for the one part of the achievements that (thankfully) doesn’t apply to the meta. When I only came up with a handful, and considering the fact that I got duplicates of those instead of new ones I needed, I realized that it wasn’t going to be worth my time. I don’t care what Blizzard says. Even if it isn’t a part of the meta anymore, it still needs to be fixed.
I observed my fellow guildmates, too, who had plenty of trouble getting Toothpicks to drop and were always asking if anybody had a certain costume wand when we got together to raid, reminding me that even the more pedestrian items can be tough to obtain. I’m sure the experience couldn’t have been too much different for most of you out there, but I, for one, was happy to finally get Hallow’s End finished. Next on the agenda? The Feast of Winter Veil (but let’s not forget the new holiday, Pilgrim’s Bounty later this month, either).
I may be getting my Violet Proto-Drake a lot later than some of you, but I’m still going to, gosh darn it!
Related Posts: Hallow’s End 2009: Why No Goblin or Worgen Masks?, A Holy Priest Striving For Hallow’s End Fun, The Best Kept Secret of Hallow’s End, Show Your WoW Love with RL Halloween Costumes, Much Ado About Mounts,
By Fabrizi on Monday, November 2nd, 2009 at 4:53 pm
1st! got about 1/2 of the meta achivement, the big problem being that most of us on my server don’t know how to work together to down the horeman when he’s burning the villiage.
By Carlos aka Kershocker on Monday, November 2nd, 2009 at 5:12 pm
I got the title the day the holiday started. I was only missing the Sinister Squashling, so I was like “Oh well, I shall get it some other day”, but I went to an Innkeeper to do that Trick or Treat thingy and THERE IT WUS!
I loved the holiday, still I’m pretty dissapointed I could not steal Headless Horseman’s mount. >:(
By Azurienatei on Monday, November 2nd, 2009 at 5:24 pm
I still needed the squash, the helm, and the gnerds v.v But sadly all slipped through my fingers. However, even if I must wait till next year, I’ll achieve it! I have to wait for Brewfest anyway, so *shrug* I’ll be waiting at least another year for the meta achievement.
By Dylan on Monday, November 2nd, 2009 at 5:49 pm
yeah i got everything on my hunter cept for plate helm and mount, on my paly i got everything cept plate helm and mount which made me sad cause i didnt care about getting mount on that guy jstu wanted epic helm once i got everything, but theres always nxt year to get it
By Conchuir on Monday, November 2nd, 2009 at 6:15 pm
i got everything i needed except for the toothpicks on the first day. i got it the next day
By Riss on Monday, November 2nd, 2009 at 6:26 pm
another season with no sinister squashling. maybe next year.
By davie261 on Monday, November 2nd, 2009 at 7:06 pm
I only had a few things to acomplish on my main to finish up the meta from last year.I invisioned another year without getting the roll on the sinister squashling but it dropped from a crudely wrapped gift on the second day woot. Lucky me I guess.. never saw the mount drop, oh well.
By Laeltis on Monday, November 2nd, 2009 at 7:27 pm
Unfortunatly, this is all over the forums, Amatera. It’s a HOT issue, and Blizzard has posted that currently, they have no plans to remove, or change the Sinister Calling Achievement. About 25% of the people who are posting on the forums have quit because of it, not because of “QQ” over not getting what they want, but by the theory behind it.
Alot of people also post that “Just stick with it”, “There’s always next year!”, “Network! Get a group of friends with alts that don’t need it to help you” or my personal favorite: “Just pay for it. I threw 500g at each person in the group to pass on it and they did.”
The thing is, we did work at it, this year and/or last, and we still got barred from the 310% mount by one simple RNG item. Blizzard is trying to make Ahievements, and World of Warcraft in general, more casual and available to the playerbase, but then when they try for something they can easily get barred away.
For my counters to the “easy solutions”:
1) Not everyone has 2kg to just throw away
2) Not everyone has that sort of network ability (resource wise)
3) Yes, there’s always next year, but that still won’t guarentee that we’ll get it next year
4) Yes, I did stick with it. I still got screwed over from trying my ass off, but my friend who doesn’t even want it, or try for that matter, gets it.
All in all, Blizzard is diffinately under alot of flak, and I’m not going to be there to defend them, since I”m one of the people who got screwed over even though “we removed RNG achievements from the meta’s”. They’re going to have a tough time crawling out of this hole.
Most of the consensus that I’ve seen is that people would totally be happy if it was changed to “Acquire a Sinister Squashling or Hallowed Helm”. It would still keep it in the Meta - , not making everyone being able to get a 310% mount, but still making it alot more available due to the really crappy “luck” people have.
By Pegraath on Monday, November 2nd, 2009 at 8:02 pm
All I needed from last year was the Sinister Squashling and GNERD Rage (because I hated pvp back then I wasn’t going to do GNERD Rage unless I got the SS).
Anyway, this year, I did GNERD Rage almost straight away. A couple of trips to HH passed and someone on the pug group got the SS and I mentioned that I needed it for the final meta, but they’d already used the pet, but would have passed if they’d known.
A few days later and I got the drop myself (one player kindly passed). Sinister Calling, The Hallowed, and What A Long Strange Trip… all came up at the same time! Cue Gratz all round from /p and /g.
I still don’t believe this should be part of the meta, but then on the other hand at 7% it is a high drop rate. If you needed it that badly, look for a lock to summon player’s alts in. You can even activate the event and switch characters and still loot him. Doing this we did a 10 summon attempt for a guy in our guild who had a broken graphics card until his replacement arrived on Friday (didn’t get his drops, but he did complete the rest of Hallowed in a single day).
By denalo on Monday, November 2nd, 2009 at 8:17 pm
Well…i was the same i only needed the squashilng and the helm to get my drake it droped on my first run every time * the firstchance when you get what ten runs? two each person?* never won any of them.not a big deal i’ll just keep dooing the daily and hey every hour trick or treating easy meh.But then i got hacked lol crap! okay..3 days later got my toon back trick or treated EVERY hour ON the hour ..got alot of candy corn but couldent do the daily. got my gear back couldent get a group for HH on my server because everyone had gotten everything nobody was running it anymore by this time * 4 days left* two days latter..*email from bliz..account closed…sigh..lol but im not going to QQ about that and yes i quit * not much choice* but i do agree..rng is not something that should be in meta’s for a achivement that takes a full year to do.
By denalo on Monday, November 2nd, 2009 at 8:19 pm
* well not every time 5 out of the ten* everyone but me got one lmao*
By cocopuff on Monday, November 2nd, 2009 at 8:32 pm
i knocked of treats of azeroth last year so did not have to do that a quick run though outlands and i was done with getting candy from the candy buckets that is really the only thing that held me back in my time of trick or treating i got a full bag of toothpicks i got my sinister squashling from trick or treating and my helm from defending GS i done horse man 50 times and the horsemans rains didnt drop once that was the hardest part all the other were knocked out in the first week it pains me that i have to wait till next year to get the mount
By cocopuff on Monday, November 2nd, 2009 at 8:35 pm
oh ya and gnerds achieve i really lucked out on i came into AB with a stack of gnerds expectign to die dozens of times but instead i got into a group that knew what they were doing long story short alliance came out victorys in taht battle i came out with 91 honnorable kills 1 death 10 killing blows and with more honnor then anyone ellse
By straxis on Monday, November 2nd, 2009 at 10:47 pm
All i needed was the Hallowed Helm and the gnerds to get the meta. the gnerds part was easy, just did WG and got it in no time, i did the daily for 4 days and saw the Helm drop once and didnt win. the next summon though the mount dropped and i won (super excited). after i hearthed to Dalaran i did the trick or treat and got the helm and the meta.
By PatrickD on Monday, November 2nd, 2009 at 11:28 pm
Didn’t get the damn helm last year. Didn’t get it this year either. I didn’t even bother with GNERDS figuring I’d knock that off after I got the helm.
…and so I wait until October 2010 at the earliest to get the damn proto drake now.
The mask achievement also annoys me. Sure, it’s not part of the meta, but it’s like you have to be trick or treating at the inn every hour for the entire holiday to even be close to getting that. 2 years of this and I maybe have half the masks? Lame.
I know there’s a lot of QQ about this, but compared to the requirements for achievements for the other holidays, Halloween is the biggest pain in the ass.
By spikolie on Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009 at 12:07 am
all i needed from last year was the SS and the helm along with the “getting wanded” the SS and helm dropped 2 days before the holiday was over and i only saw the mount drop once.. a fellow guildie got it so i don’t feel so bad for losing the roll. next year… at least that achievement is done and over with. Next!!!
By mike1972 on Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009 at 2:12 am
all i needed this year was the stink bomb and wickerman achievement, the masks, the helm and the HH mount.
After trick or treating and HH runs every day, i was getting a little angry with no drops, so gave up on it, only to come back at the behest of my cousin for ‘one last HH run’.
He decided to do it around the time of the dailies resetting, so we could get 10 runs in. I wasnt holding my breath, as i’m well known in my guild for getting absurdly low rolls on everything that i actually needed (never rolled higher than 40 on ANY need).
Anyway, off we trot, in a pug to massacre the horseman, and BAM! on the second kill the mount drops…
i roll an 86, and nobody else rolls anywhere close!
I nearly died! So, thats 91 mounts so far.
On the subject of the squashling, i got it on the last day of hallows on the final HH run of last year, after running and trick or treating every day. BUT, i got it 7 times this year. i know loads of people who needed it and i would have happily given them away, but noooo, SOULBOUND! dammit
By Ombrenoire on Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009 at 6:59 am
Considering my computer was out for repairs during the Love Is In The Air 2008 I still need that entire achievement to get my drake. Otherwise, most of the events are finished. A few PVP events left to do, and that’ll be it.
By Mav on Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009 at 7:23 am
I got everything but the Horseman’s mount. Been there everyday, it hadn’t dropped :(.
By Bronte on Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009 at 7:48 am
I made it my mission to get the meta-achievement this year. I logged in every day and solely focused on doing everything that would get me the achievements.
All of them were easy, except for, like you, the damn Squashling. So one day I made a group, and clarified in the beginning that I was only after the squashling, that I will even pass on the mount. If anyone had an issue with it, they could leave the party.
It took two days, but it finally dropped and I claimed my dibs. Meta-achievement accomplished!
What server are you on BTW? I am on Eitrigg.
By cmonblizz! on Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009 at 8:06 am
sinister pet shouldnt be part of meta achviement thats fuking lame, all about luck, and yes i havnt got it yet, didnt even see it drop this year! so lame. might be 5 years to get it? who knows.
By Nauren on Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009 at 9:08 am
i got the title but same was there everyday with my guildies trying for the mount did not see it drop once and would do this 5 or 10 times a day
By bloodysir on Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009 at 9:49 am
I only needed the hallowed helm and HH mount left so i decided to do HH 24/7 i never got the hallowed helm and the HH mount DID drop but i didnt win the roll tho i paid the guy who won 800g for it Haha all the other guys were QQing at me
By Zerth on Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009 at 4:16 pm
Got everything this year from scratch, plus I saw the mount drop one time and won it
By Xianghua on Sunday, November 8th, 2009 at 11:52 pm
I had about half of azeroth’s candy buckets hit from last year, and I quickly got the rest as well as outland (crusader aura as a paladin helped a lot). GNERD rage wasn’t all that hard either, a quick EotS (eye of the storm) netted me the final 20 or so kills that WG didn’t give me.
I gained the squashling from one of my HH runs, and saw the hallowed helm drop on the last run of the event.. only one other person rolled on it. He rolled a 43 or something to my 9…I still hate the RNG for that…
Found out that you need to loot the helm for it to count for the achievement. He traded it to me thinking that would get us both the achievement. No luck. I didn’t even try to get all the masks.