World of Warcraft News and Raiding Strategies

It’s time for Tricky Treats, costumes, and—of course—the return of the Headless Horseman during this year’s Hallow’s End!

Hallow’s End celebrates the break of the Forsaken from the Scourge.
Fun and mischief reign as the Innkeepers of Azeroth give treats, and tricks, to whomever asks.

The spookiest time of year has arrived once more, and the Headless Horseman rides forth to strike terror into the hearts and minds of Azeroth’s citizens.

When: October 18–November 1
Where: Trick-or-Treat throughout the inns of Azeroth, Northrend, Pandaria, Outland, Draenor, and the Broken Isles (Dalaran) for tasty treats and currency to buy Hallow’s End delights.

All together now! —the Headless Horseman is back to set fire to Razor Hill and Goldshire once more. You’ll need to lend a hand on the bucket brigade to put them out and face the infamous rider.

Prepare yourselves, the bells have tolled! Shelter your weak, your young and your old! Each of you shall pay the final sum. Cry for mercy, the reckoning has come! - The Headless Horseman

It would be a lovely time of year to take a stroll through the Scarlet Monastery’s Graveyard if the Headless Horseman hadn’t decided to make it his new lair. If you're lucky and succeed in routing this menace from within, you may ride off with his steed.

Throughout Hallow’s End, characters level 20-120 will be able to queue up for this ghoulish encounter in the Dungeon Finder.

This year you’ll be able to exchange your Tricky Treats for a newly added toy:

• The Headless Horseman’s Hearthstone

Head to Val’sharah to undertake a quest that begins with the Hag of the Crooked Tree in Bradensbrook. Follow the tale through to its culmination and you’ll receive some Tricky Treats and a chance of receiving one of four utterly bewitching hats.

• Hat of the First Sister
  
• Hat of the Second Sister
  
• Hat of the Third Sister
  
• Hat of the Youngest Sister

Achievements
There are a total of 21 achievements that can be earned during this event. Completing the Meta-Achievement, Hallowed Be Thy Name, rewards the title: The Hallowed. The eleven Achievements that need to be completed to earn this title include: Trick or Treat!, Out With It, Bring Me the Head of... Oh Wait, The Savior of Hallow's End, That Sparkling Smile, Rotten Hallow, G.N.E.R.D. Rage, Check Your Head, The Masquerade, Sinister Calling, Tricks or Treats of Azeroth.

• Rotten Hallow
  
  • Ruin Hallow’s End for the Alliance/Horde and foil their attempts to wreck the Alliance/Horde celebration by completing the following quests: Stink Bombs Away!, Clean Up in Undercity/Stormwind, A Time to Build Up, A Time to Break Down.
• Bring Me The Head of … Oh Wai
  
  • Kill the Headless Horseman.
• Check Your Head
  
  • Use Weighted Jack-o’-Lanterns to put pumpkin heads on each of the races: Blood Elf, Draenei, Dwarf, Gnome, Goblin, Human, Night Elf, Orc, Tauren, Troll, Undead, Worgen.
• A Frightening Friend
  
  • Find Pepe wearing his spooky scarecrow costume.
• G.N.E.R.D. Rage
  
  • Earn 10 honorable kills while under the influence of the G.N.E.R.D. buff. It’s a slap in the face!
• The Mask Task
  
  • Obtain a Mask during Hallow’s End.
• A Mask for All Occasions
  
  • Collect the 24 unique Masks listed: (Male and Female each) Blood Elf, Draenei, Dwarf, Gnome, Goblin, Human, Night Elf, Orc, Tauren, Troll, Undead, and Worgen.
• The Masquerade
  
  • Get transformed by the Hallowed Wands listed: Bat, Ghost, Leper Gnome, Ninja, Pirate Skeleton, Wisp.
• Out With It
  
  • Eat so many Tricky Treats that you get an upset tummy.
• The Savior of Hallow’s End
  
  • Complete one of the quests to save a village form the Headless Horseman.
• Sinister Calling
  
  • Obtain a Sinister Squashling pet and Hallowed Helm through looting or Tricky Treats from the Hallow’s end world events.
• That Sparkling Smile
  
  • Show off your sparkling smile by using a Tooth Pick.
• Trick or Treat!
  
  • Receive a handful of treats from one of the Candy Buckets located in an inn.
• Tricky Treats of Azeroth
  
  • Complete the Kalimdor, Eastern Kingdoms, and Outland Tricks and Treats achievements.
• Tricks and Treats of Kalimdor
  
  • Visit the Candy Buckets in Kalimdor.
• Tricks and Treats of Eastern Kingdoms
  
  • Visit the Candy Buckets in Eastern Kingdoms.
• Tricks or Treats of Outland
  
  • Visit the Candy Buckets in Outland.
• Tricks or Treats of Northrend
  
  • Visit the Candy Buckets in Northrend.
• Tricks or Treats of the Cataclysm
  
  • Visit the Candy Buckets in Cataclsym zones.
• Trick or Treats of Pandaria
  
  • Visit the Candy Buckets in Pandaria.

Horde characters who have completed the Battle for Lordaeron event will need to speak with Zidormi in Tirisfal Glades to pass through the mists of time and visit Undercity as it was before.

Barber Shop

• Resolved some issues with the Barber Shop previewing textures from other character models.
  
• Worgen players are now able to save changes to their Human forms.
  
• Resolved an issue with a Night Elf skin color and eye color not displaying correctly to other players.

Classes

• Mage
  
  • General
    
    • Portals can now be used by all members of the Mage’s party, regardless of level.
      
    • Mages who are not yet high enough level to fly can now take a portal to the abandoned Kirin Tor camp during the quest "The Deadwind Site".
      
    • Starving prisoners are now less picky and will eat any level of Mage conjured food offered to them during the quest, "More Than Just A Food Vendor".
      
  • Arcane
    
    • Master of Escape (PvP Talent) no longer reduces the cooldown of Mass Invisibility (PvP Talent).
      
• Warrior
  
  • Protection
    
    • All Protection Warriors with Punish (Talent) selected can now apply multiple Punish debuffs on a single target.
      

Dungeons and Raids

• Grievous and Bursting affixes now deal appropriate damage on Mythic Keystone difficulty.
  
• Atal'Dazar
  
  • Shadowy spiders summoned by Echoes of Shadra no longer deal damage while in the Awakened affix realm on Mythic Keystone difficulty.
    

Exile's Reach

• After several complaints from Captain Garrick and Warlord Grimaxe, new recruits can no longer duel aboard the Horde and Alliance ships. Additionally, Health regeneration will recover more slowly while dueling on Exile’s Reach. Now take your fights to the island, recruits!
  
• Resolved an issue where the objective to speak with Warlord Grimaxe wouldn’t complete during the Exile’s Reach Horde quest, “Dungeon: Darkmaul Citadel”.

Items and Rewards

• Fixed an issue causing the Humming Black Dragonscale trinket’s slow fall effect to not apply the Draconic Descent buff aura. Additionally, the trinket’s slow fall effect can now be used while mounted.
  
• Alliance players can loot 7th Legion Service Medals once again.

Quests

• Completing “Quartermaster’s Bounty” will reward a Warlord’s Trophy for your efforts once again.
  
• The turn in locations for the Vulpera Allied Race quests, "A Little Goodwill" and "Worthwhile Repairs" have been updated to their correct positions.
  
• "Adventurers Wanted: Chromie's Call" will correctly be categorized under Orgrimmar for Horde characters.
  
• The Legionfall Construction Table is no longer empty during the quest “Begin Construction”.
  
• Vanthir is once again visible for turning in the Suramar quest, “All Along the Waterways”.
  
• Fixed an issue that prevented players from completing the Shadowmoon Valley quest, “The Ashtongue Corruptors”.
  
• The protective shield surrounding Animus in the Thousand Needles quest, "The Doomstone", can no longer withstand the might of Magatha Grimtotem's Elemental Nullifier.
  
• Honor’s Stand Officers in Southern Barrens will once again drop the Roadway Plans that start the quest, "The Low Road".

Classes

• Death Knight
  
  • Unholy
    
    • Unholy Blight (Talent) now applies Virulent Plague at max melee range.
      
• Druid
  
  • General
    
    • The Legion Class Hall Dreamwalk teleport is now available to players starting at level 10 (was level 12) after completing the quest “To The Dreamgrove”.
      
  • Balance
    
    • Vision of Perfection (Azerite Essence) should now properly extend the duration of both Solar Eclipse and Lunar Eclipse if it activates while Celestial Alignment is already active.
      
• Paladin
  
  • Protection
    
    • The absorb from First Avenger (Talent) no longer double dips into Versatility.
      
• Shaman
  
  • Enhancement
    
    • Lightning Shield no longer gains stacks of Maelstrom Weapon before level 29.
      

Creatures and NPCs

• Various Druid NPCs have remembered how to shapeshift.

Dungeons and Raids

• Players leveling through Battle for Azeroth can now queue for Freehold and Atal'Dazar in the Dungeon Finder at lower levels.
  
  • Alliance players will unlock Freehold at level 10 and Atal'Dazar at level 16.
    
  • Horde players will unlock Atal'Dazar at level 10 and Freehold at level 16.
    
• Temple of the Jade Serpent
  
  • Sha of Doubt
    
    • Touch of Nothingness now deals appropriate damage on Normal difficulty.
      

Items and Rewards

• The Flash of Brilliance 4-piece Heirloom set bonus will no longer hit enemies that you are not engaged in combat with, except for players of the opposite faction when War Mode is enabled. They probably deserved it.

Quests

• Players who reach level 50 will once again receive the quest, “A Dying World”, and will be directed to Magni Bronzebeard in Silithus to obtain their Heart of Azeroth. There is no escaping from his storytelling!
  
• Players can again escape from the Frozen Throne through Bwonsomdi’s Death Gate during the quest “Jailer of the Damned”.
  
• Fixed an issue where lower level Priests were unable to complete the Priest Class Hall Campaign quest “Murloc Mind Control”.
  
• Resolved an issue where “Stay of Execution” was unavailable for some players.
  
• Cork Fizzlepop’s location will now display if he despawns while on the Horde quest “Finding Your Way”.

Tomorrow, Friday, October 16, we will continue our raid tests in Naxxramas, with the Arachnid Quarter.

NA - 2:00 p.m. PDT (5:00 p.m. EDT) to 6:00 p.m. PDT (9:00 p.m. EDT)
EU - 23:00 CEST to 03:00 CEST

Available Bosses:

• Anub’Rekhan
• Grand Widow Faerlina
• Maexxna

This testing schedule is very fluid and subject to the realities of a test environment. We might have to change the time of a testing session, change the bosses being tested, or cancel a test entirely, due to bugs, server hardware issues, etc. Keep an eye on this forum for the latest information, and thank you in advance for testing and providing feedback.

Q: How do I get into the raid zone?
A: To facilitate and expedite testing, there is an NPC named Johnny McWeaksauce that has taken up temporary residence at Light’s Hope Chapel in Eastern Plaguelands. He will provide players with Naxxramas attunement and instant teleportation into the Naxxramas raid. Johnny’s brother Jimmy, can be found within the raid and will provide access to consumables and reagents.

Q: Can I test with less than a full, content-ready raid group?
A: There will be a zone aura present within the raid that will provide players with a significant health and damage boost to help them overcome the challenges of Naxxramas. The intent of these raid tests is not to provide a challenge that perfectly matches what we expect players to experience when the raid goes live. The intent is to exercise boss mechanics and give us additional confidence that the raid encounters are behaving as expected. The hope is that even if you cannot muster a full 40-person raid to test with, or wish to form a pick-up-group on the PTR, you can still participate and make considerable progress within the dungeon if you so desire.

Please use the in-game bug reporter to send us any bug reports or issues that you encounter while playtesting on the PTR. We appreciate you taking the time to test this content, and we look forward to your feedback.